MOUNTAINEER Leo Oracion has become the first Filipino to reach the summit of Mount Everest, according to GMA Network’s “Flash Report.”
The report said Oracion reached the top at about 5:30 p.m. (Manila time) or 3:30 p.m. in Nepal.

Oracion started his journey towards the summit of Mount Everest early Saturday morning from the base camp, the report said.

Oracion had to break blocks of ice and make a path for himself while bearing the extremely cold temperature and thin air to reach the top of the highest mountain in the world, the report added.

Meanwhile, in Oracion’s hometown of Lucban in Quezon province, Oracion’s family and neighbors were glued to the television to monitor the progress of the mountaineer, according to the report.

Oracion’s mother was teary-eyed as she expressed happiness over her son’s triumphant climb, footage showed. She also related that her son had loved extreme sports as a youngster.

Romeo Garduce, the other Filipino aiming to reach the summit is on his way to Everest’s Camp Three from Camp Two, which he left at about 7 a.m. (Nepal time), according to an earlier “Flash report” on Wednesday.

Garduce clarified that he was not competing with Oracion but said that the climb was for the benefit of Filipinos, the same report said.

In a country where no mountain reaches 3,000 meters, and where the only ice is inside freezers, Garduce and Oracion and his partner Erwin Emata were being feted even before any of them had reached the summit.

"If they reach the top they will become national heroes," said fellow mountaineer James Tagara of Manila-based AMCI club earlier.

Garduce, 37, said in his Internet diary this week that he completed his final training climb to Everest's intermediate Camp 3 on May 6. Climbing on thin air requires "three breaths for every step," he said.