Manila: A Filipino mountaineer, Heracleo "Leo" Oracion, 32, reached the summit of the 8, 848-metre Mount Everest, the first Filipino to do so, at 5.30pm yesterday afternoon, Philippine time, radio and TV reports said.

Oracion called himself the "Philippine eagle" landed at the summit of Mount Everest, Arturo Valdez, former undersecretary of telecommunications and transportation department, quoted the Filipino mountaineer as saying.

Oracion reached the Hillary stretch of the mountain, 1,000 metres away from the peak of the mountain at noon time, said Valdez, leader of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition.

Snowstorm

"We are very happy for Leo," said his mother Mina Oracion on TV. His students in Cebu, central Philippines were joyous as they watched Oracion's success on TV.

Oracion was one of the two mountain climbers sponsored by ABS CBN, a TV network.

The other climber, Erwin Emata was left at camp four because the plan was for him to reach the summit in case Oracion could not make it. Emata would soon be the second Filipino to reach the summit of the Everest.

Meanwhile, mountain climber Romeo Garduce who was sponsored by ABS CBN's rival GMA 7, was left behind at camp three. Garduce, considered the better climber among the three Filipino mountaineers suffered snowstorm and avalanche at one of the camps of the trail to Everest's summit.

He used the route taken by Sir Edmund Hillary 50 years ago.

Garduce had also climbed Mount Cho-Oyu in Tibet, the sixth highest mountain in the world in September 2005. For five hours, Filipino viewers were glued to the two TV stations, changing channels as the three Filipino climbers raced to plant their country's flag at the world's highest mountain.

The sponsorship given by the two biggest TV stations to the Filipino mountain climbers created a media-hype on the event.

Because of the hardship that the Filipino mountaineers experienced, all of them were hailed as national treasures. The TV stations played up the feat of the climbers through satellite phones.

Harder route

Another Filipino climber, Dale Abenojar who was not sponsored by the two TV networks was also praised because he came from Tibet and tried to climb Mount Everest from its north face, a harder route.

All of them have become heroes for many Filipinos who have identified with winning sportsmen including Filipino boxer Manny Pacquiao.