Emata is second Filipino
to reach Everest summit

Mountaineer Erwin “Pastor" Emata on Thursday became the second Filipino to make it to the top of 29,035-foot-high Mount Everest, as he reached the summit of the world's highest mountain at 5:30 a.m. (7:30 a.m. in the Philippines). Emata's teammate in the First Philippine Mt. Everest Expedition (FPMEE), Heracleo "Leo" Oracion, reached the summit Wednesday afternoon. Fellow Filipino climber, Romi Garduce, is expected to make it to the summit on Friday. The FPMEE members and Garduce all scaled Mt. Everest via the south trail in Nepal. Another Filipino mountaineer, Dale Abenojar, is making his way to the top via the north trail in Tibet, China. Up to 21 expedition teams from different countries are vying to reach the summit this year. Emata hails from the southern Philippines province of Davao. He is regarded as one of the best Filipino adventurer racers, having won in the Carera Habagat, Survival Challenge in Guimaras and Survival of the Fittest in Escalante, Negros. Emata is known for practicing a kind of spirituality typically associated with some who has constantly communed with nature, specifically in the mountains. His moniker “Pastor" literally means preacher. It is said he often led his team in prayer. Outside the Philippines, Emata and Oracion had been training in New Zealand’s mountain ranges since early 2006. Emata, together with Oracion, also summited Muztagh Ata, a mountain range straddling Tibet and Central China, in August 2005.-GMANews.TV