Palace lauds Oracion's triumph

Malacañang on Wednesday lauded Heracleo "Leo" Oracion, the first Filipino mountain climber to reach the peak of Mount Everest, the world's highest peak. Executive Secretary Eduardo Ermita made the announcement following reports that Oracion, a member of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition, reached the summit of Mount Everest at 3:30 p.m. (5:30 p.m. RP time). "The indomitable spirit of man especially if [those] men are Pinoys, we are equal to anyone in the world, therefore I might say, coming from Malacañang, we all rejoice that they accomplished this feat," he said. Ermita said the success of the Filipino mountaineers who joined the Mount Everest expedition is "a success of the country, of all Filipinos." "You can imagine how the world would be looking at Filipinos being able to plant the Philippine flag on top of Mt. Everest. Long live our fellow Filipinos: (Erwin) Emata, (Romy) Garduce, and Oracion," he added. -GMANews.TV