Mounts Iglit–Baco Natural Park

Deep in the interior of Mindoro island in the central Philippines, Mounts Iglit–Baco Natural Park (MIBNP) spans rugged terrain of slopes, river gorges, mountains, and plateaus. First set aside as a national park in 1970 under Republic Act No. 6148, it originally covered 75,445 hectares around Mount Iglit and Mount Baco. In 2018, the Expanded National Integrated Protected Areas Systems Act reclassified it as a "Natural Park" and expanded its boundaries to 106,656 hectares. The park is also an ASEAN Heritage Park—one of only four in the Philippines as of 2003—and was nominated to UNESCO’s Tentative List of World Heritage Sites in 2006.

The park lies in south-central Mindoro, split across eight municipalities: Sablayan, Calintaan, Rizal, and San Jose in Occidental Mindoro, and Bongabong, Bansud, Gloria, and Mansalay in Oriental Mindoro. Sablayan holds the largest share of the park at 68%, while Mansalay accounts for just 1.2%.

Most park facilities are in Calintaan, which covers 9% of the area. Mount Baco, in the northern part, rises to 2,488 meters, and Mount Iglit, just south of it, reaches 2,364 meters. Ten major river systems—including the Mongpong, Patrick, Mag-asawang tubig, Bongabong, Lamintao, Anahawin, and Busuanga—cut through the park, draining into the Sibuyan Sea and South China Sea.

Socio-Economic and Cultural Profile

At least six ethnic groups call the park home: Batangas, Tagalog, Mangyan, Bisaya, Bicolano, and Ilocano. Among them are five Mangyan groups—Bangon, Buhid, Hanunuo, Tadyawan, and TaoBuid—each with its own language, culture, and traditions.

The park also borders ancestral domains of the Taobuid, Buhid, and Bangon, whose ways of life are deeply tied to the land. These communities rely on the park for subsistence, practicing traditional farming and hunting. Some areas have been converted to grasslands for pasture, while others are used for slash-and-burn kaingin agriculture.

Biological Features

Vegetation in MIBNP is mostly grasslands, lowland Dipterocarp forests, and montane rainforests on higher slopes. Near the Lamintao River in the south lies a 367-hectare Acacia forest. Along the Anahawin River, within the Mindoro Biodiversity Rescue and Conservation Center (formerly the Tamaraw Gene Pool Farm), there is an Agoho forest. This center is the birthplace of Kali (Kalikasan Bagong Sibol), the only tamaraw bred in captivity that survived to adulthood.