Welcome to Mount Makiling!
A Brief History of MMFR
The Makiling Forest Reserve (MMFR) was established as a reserve in 1910. After ten years, it was declared as a National Botanic Gardens to serve as a field laboratory of the then Forestry School (now College of Forestry and Natural Resources- CFNR). For almost 42 years, administration of the reserve is under the former Bureau of Forestry, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (BF-DENR). Its administration was transferred to the Commission of Parks and Wildlife in 1952 until 1960.
To serve its primary purpose as an outdoor laboratory for scientific and silvicultural studies, the then College of Forestry, University of the Philippines Los Baños (CF-UPLB), tried to acquire jurisdiction over the MFR in 1956. Finally, in 1960 the administration and management of the reserve was transferred to the University of the Philippines with the condition that the land would be conserved and preserved as a National Park. ( Messages on environmental protection are strategically located at MFR).
The Makiling Forest Reserve was disestablished as a National Park in 1963 by virtue of RA No. 3523. It was proclaimed as a land resource to be used for carrying out a program of public education and information on forestry to promote the appreciation of forest values among the public. (Narra ( Tamesis tree) planted by Florencio Tamesis, the first Filipino Director of the Bureau of Forestry).
In 1987, a radical change in the administration of MFR occurred. Jurisdiction over the area was transferred to the National Power Corporation (NAPOCOR) in support of the country’s energy development program. In response to this change, the CF-UPLB lobbied aggresively with the NAPOCOR and Congress. As a result, except for a disruption in 1987, the Makiling Forest Reserve was reverted back to the management of UPLB-CFNR from 1960 to the present.
source: GIS Atlas of Selected Watershed in the Philippines