Mt. Makiling is OPEN!

Mt. Makiling has long been removed in our list of closed mountains, but due to so many queries about the status of Makiling, I decided to contact Prof. Roberto Cereno, Deputy Director of the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems, UP College of Forestry in order to confirm this. Tito Robby is the person in charge of Mt. Makiling and he responded that yes, Makiling is open on both the Los Banos and Sto. Tomas trails!

As regards the UPLB trail, here is his response:

The Mariang Makiling Trail – the main 8.7km trail from UPLB College of Forestry to the summit (Peak 2) was reopened for trekking since last year. Camping is still restricted to Tayabak campsite near Station 8 or the Mudsprings trail junction, and at Malaboo campsite near Station 15 just before the Wilderness Zone. Camping, picnic, team building exercises, basic mountaineering and leave no trace courses may be done at the Makiling Rainforest Park near our central nursery (Station 7). MFPI is currently building a Shed (or Lanai as they called it) that will be donated to us. All visitors are required to register at the Entry Point (Station 1) just next to our main MCME office. Entrance fee is still at Php5. If you came in before or after the 8am-5pm office hours, kindly register and pay the fees as you exit, this is a simple and honest way of helping us raise funds for Mount Makiling’s protection.

And as for the Sto. Tomas trail:

The Sipit Trail – the Sto. Tomas side of the Makiling Traverse is still a problem due to major landslides caused by Typhoon Milenyo last September 2006. Flashfloods and landslides are still occuring during heavy rainfall so its a big NO to climb during rainy days. In the meantime, we ask everyone to pass thru the Barangay hall of Brgy. San Bartolome to register. There’s no entrance fee. BTW, the Sipit riverbank trail (marked Station 1- Station 8) to “Gubatan” is heavily damaged, so please avoid this route.

So in summary, (1) Mt. Makiling is open on both trails, but (2) Camping is restricted so dayhikes are the way to go; and (3) The traverse is allowed but proceed with caution and use the San Bartolome trail.

Addendum: The Mt. Makiling/UPLB Trail page in PinoyMountaineeer has been updated to reflect the changes discussed in this news post.

This article supersedes all mention of Mt. Makiling’s status. We will post developments in the future. Many thanks to Sir Cereno for this update!