Land Reservations' 25th Anniversary
The UP Land Reservations in Laak and Marilog had their 25th-anniversary milestone in June 2023.
President Fidel V. Ramos signed Presidential Proclamations 1252 and 1253, creating the UP Laak Land Reservation and the UP Marilog Land Reservation on June 15, 1998, upon the recommendation of the Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Natural Resources.
PP 1252 set aside 2,800 hectares in Laak, in present-day Davao de Oro Province, for "research, extension, instruction purposes, forest rehabilitation and protection, biodiversity conservation, crops and livestock production and management, including upland communities training and development center."
PP 1253, on the other hand, proclaimed 4,100 hectares in Marilog for similar purposes in addition to "watershed and forest rehabilitation and protection."
UP leads and participates in their socioeconomic development. Both land reservations are presently parts of ancestral domains, as well.
UP Land Reservation Manager Joel Sagadal recalled these milestones in his visit to Special Barangay Talle in Davao del Oro Province on June 15, 2023.
"UP Los Banos Alumni Association Davao President Luciano 'Sonny' Puyod II suggested the Laak area to then-UP President Emil Javier," he said.
The local communities welcomed UP's arrival because basic education was their urgent need. Consequently, the newly-created UP Ugnayan ng Pahinungod's Gurong Pahinungod volunteer teachers were deployed to Laak. Today, the pilot schools established in the Laak reservation have grown, and some former pupils have become teachers.
The communities in both Laak and Marilog are likewise experiencing economic opportunities and sustainable development. The resident Dibabawon and the Obu-Manuvu indigenous and migrant communities in Laak and Marilog are engaged in sustainable agriculture, livestock-growing, food processing, and contract-growing for an international market.
In 2017, UP Mindanao's efforts were recognized with a Gawad Pangulo Award for Excellence in Public Service for "Economic Upliftment of the Indigenous People's Community through Agricultural Projects" in the UP Marilog Land Reservation.
The issuance of the presidential proclamations is proving to be wise action in the UP Laak and Marilog Land Reservations.
