Photo: Angel Pandoy FB page

By: Romeo Braceros Jr.

On Saturday, October 1, 2022, a 39-year-old blind man from Sta Cruz town in Davao del Sur scaled the nation's highest peak, Mt. Apo.

He is Bennie Cambang, a resident of Barangay Sibulan's Sitio Tumpis, also in Sta. Cruz.

In a now-viral post by veteran mountain climber guide Angel Pandoy, Cambang was pictured taking pride in one of his life's biggest triumphs as he scaled Mt. Apo without shoes.

Pandoy and Cambang use the Sta. Cruz Back Trail (Boulder Face) in climbing the highest mountain in the Philippines.

Most hikers regard Mt. Apo, which is 2,956 meters above sea level, as the Philippines' most challenging mountain to climb.