Aliwagwag Protected Landscape

The Aliwagwag Protected Landscape is a protected area that preserves a major drainage catchment in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao in the Davao Region. It contains the headwaters of the Cateel River in the southern Diuata Mountain Range which provides the water source and irrigation for surrounding rice fields and communities in Davao Oriental and Compostela Valley provinces. It was named after the remote rural village in the municipality of Cateel where Aliwagwag Falls, the country's highest waterfall, is located.The protected landscape is part of the Philippines' National Integrated Protected Areas System and was established in 2011 through Proclamation No. 139 issued by President Benigno Aquino III. It was initially a component of the 1927400ha Agusan–Davao–Surigao Forest Reserve declared in 1931 through Proclamation No. 369 by Governor-General Dwight F. Davis which underwent several amendments over the years to open up a few areas in the mineral rich watershed to mining.DescriptionAliwagwag is situated in the Eastern Mindanao Biodiversity Corridor which contains one of the largest remaining blocks of tropical lowland rainforest in the Philippines. It covers an area of and a buffer zone of in the hydrologically rich mountainous interior of the municipalities of Cateel and Boston in Davao Oriental as well as a portion of the municipality of Compostela in Compostela Valley. A tributary of the Cateel River which includes the Aliwagwag Falls flows through the park from the 1660m high Mount Agtuuganon in the Diuata Range or Mindanao Pacific Cordillera. This multi-tiered waterfall with 84 steps ranging from 6-110ft has a combined height of 1110ft. To the south of the park lie the foothills of the 1416m high Mount Pasian with the Cateel River running between the mountains and into the Cateel Bay which opens to the Philippine Sea and the Pacific Ocean.