Baby Steps: Be One with Makiling

The kapa-kapa--an indicator of primary rainforest
(Picture by Sara Pacia)

The magenta-pink beauty of this endemic Philippine flora captivated England so much that in 1854 it received an award from the Royal Horticultural Society of England. No one had yet seen such an unusual plant, with four brightly-colored leaves forming a cape over its stalk of small white flowers hanging overhead from the high bark of thick trees. The exotic kapa-kapa (kapa is Filipino for “cape”), as it is called in the Philippines, has since become popular among plant lovers.

Metro Manila dwellers may not have to look far to see this plant themselves, as they are only a car ride away from where the kapa-kapa was first discovered: Mt. Makiling.

At the Makiling Botanic Gardens (MBG) in the University of the Philippines Los Banos, Laguna, the people take pride in the kappa-kapa and have made it the Gardens’ emblem. Even the roofs of their two new buildings, the Pavilion and the Nature Education Building, are painted with specially-engineered paint to match the plant’s famous magenta-pink shade. To MBG, kappa-kapa stands not only for beauty also for the need for preservation as it, along with some of the other endemic and exotic plants thriving within the gardens, is endangered.

Forest Green Frog
According to park guide Benjamin D. Arizala, the forest green frog is a good "biological indicator." There presence in an environemnt means it is still healthy. (Picture by Sara Pacia)

As part of the Makiling Forest Reserve (MFR), which was handed over to the university in 1963 through Republic Act 3523 and now spans over 4, 000 hectares of the inactive volcano Mt. Makiling, the MBG serves as both a recreation venue and an outdoor laboratory to study plant life and nature in general.

According to Roberto P. Cereno, deputy director of the Makiling Center for Mountain Ecosystems, the MBG is a place where visitors can “study and experience nature.”

Through guided tours, students and tourists can better appreciate the Gardens by learning about the different plants growing inside, how they grow and how they help the environment. The whole experience of walking uphill and downhill on the Gardens’ paved path, witnessing the different colors of flower and fruit, smelling the fresh forest air, and catching a glimpse of the occasional forest tree frog or slinking lizard works to teach visitors of the importance of keeping the rainforest intact.

“Mt. Makiling is a watershed,” said park guide Benjamin D. Arizala. “It provides clean and pure water to the communities (living near the mountain).”

He said Makiling is also an “airshed” because of the plants and trees growing in the forest, “representing the different flora from Batanes all the way to Basilan.” The trees “sequester” the carbon emissions from the cars and nearby factories in Laguna and, in return, provide the people with “sariwang hangin (fresh air).”

The rainforest also prevents floods and landslides, said both Cereno and Arizala. During Typhoon Milenyo in 2006, that felled many a tree at UPLB, Makiling’s flora took in the rainwater and slowed down the “surface runoff” that unhampered would have flooded the community.

The forest is “like a sponge when it rains,” said Arizala.

It is also an anchor, he added, with the forest trees’ roots firmly holding the mountain soil together.

But to foster forest appreciation there is still much work to be done, said Cereno.

The Reserve’s deputy director still has wishes that, if granted, would make the MBG a full-pledged botanic garden.

There are still more themed gardens to plant, he said. The 300-hectare Gardens still has room—aside from the bamboo, palm, and dipterocarp gardens—for medicinal plants, fruit trees, figs and strictly native plants. Visitors, he said, must also learn about the “ecology of the canopy,” which is much different from the forest bottom.

MBG also needs to get published. Cereno hopes they will one day release books on endemic flora as well as print school posters “for students to see the value in preserving native plants.” And someday soon, he plans to release a coffee table book on the different plants growing inside the Gardens.

In the future, Cereno wishes, MBG will be at par with the Royal Botanic Gardens in London, where they have preserved the first kappa-kapa ever brought to England in the 19^th century.

But for now MBG must work within a budget of about P250, 000, ticket sales, and donations to refurbish the garden’s events circle and find “rear projection system” and “home theater surround system” for the Garden’s new education building.

Mariang Makiling by Hugo C. Yonzon, 1974

The focus for now is on the Gardens’ “physical development,” said Cereno.

Even without the books, MBG has one strong tool: the legend of Mariang Makiling. Cereno said the MFR is promoting a “modern-day interpretation” of the legend toward the conservation of the mountain. Visitors are encouraged to look beyond the story of diwata (nature spirit) who, after losing her beloved, took refuge in the mountain. There is a spirit in the mountain, yes; but it is a spirit of love and concern for everything that thrives in its forests.

“Makiling lives among us through our love for the mountain,” said Cereno.

Makiling Botanic Gardens

Open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. all week except on Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, All Saints' Day, Christmas, and New Year's Day

How to Get There:

UPLB is an hour-and-a-half car ride from Muntinlupa City on the South Luzon Expressway. The Makiling Botanic Gardens is in the university’s “upper campus” at the College of Forestry and Natural Resources.

Entrance Fees:

Entrance is P10* for visitors and P6 for UP students with their school IDs. The Gardens’ entrance fee is their source of funds for equipment and maintenance for the MBG, with one-third of the proceeds going to the Gardens; the rest go to the maintenance of the entire reserve.

(* Cereno said entrance fees will cost P20 by January next year.)

What to Do:

1. Book an ENT

Named after the walking and talking trees from J.R.R. Tolkein’s The Lord of the Rings series, these Educators for Nature Tourism are college students (mostly forestry majors) who serve as tour guides for MBG visitors. Cereno said these guides will help visitors better understand the Gardens’ plants as well as rainforest ecology.

A one-hour tour for a group of ideally 15 costs P100, with each succeeding hour costing P50. CALL AT LEAST THREE (3) DAYS AHEAD OF YOUR VISIT.

2. Picnic

Eat outdoors among the Garden’s exotic and endemic plants at the MBG picnic grounds located near the main entrance. Only those who have paid the entrance fee are allowed to use the picnic. Visitors are expected to keep MBG grounds clean.

3. Hold an event

Hold forums at the new Nature Education Building, and host group gatherings at the MBG’s renovated Pavilion.

4. Celebrate the Makiling Forest Reserves centennial

MBG is currently celebrating its centennial anniversary with events from June 2010 to 2011. There will be special “Maquiling Quest” during MFR’s anniversary on Nov. 21, 2010. A special take on the reserve’s annual adventure race in honor of the centennial, it will cover a 100 km run from Lipa Batangas to the finish line at MBG.

5. Help out