"Marikit ng Lipa"

Malepunyo Range or Mounta Malarayat is an extinct volcano located in the provinces of Batangas, Laguna, and Quezon.

Mount Malarayat does not only provide a majestic sweeping scenery to Lipa City but it also serves as a wind breaker in times of typhoons plus it supplies clean and cool air to the city.

The mountain range is home to thousands of flora, fauna, and other forms of life and one of which are civet cats as the source of famous alamid coffee. Water is also seen as the primary ecosystem service of Mt Malarayat to Lipenos.

As previously written in our previous Lipa Status's article, with so many benefits of the mountain to Lipa and nearby towns, the mountain should be given utmost priority and protection not only by Lipa but the rest of the cities and municipalities covered by the mountain range. We should be learning from what's recently happening in other places and the effect of climate change.

More Details: Mount Malepunyo is its highest peak located at Barangay Talisay, Lipa City standing at 1,002 metres (3,287 ft) above mean sea level by the ridge of its caldera. The second highest peak of the range is Mt. Dalaga standing at 755 metres (2,477 ft) above mean sea level situated at the boundary of Santo Tomas, Batangas and Alaminos, Laguna. During the 1990s, the name was changed by the locals of Santo Tomas to Manabu as a shortened Tagalog phrase Mataas na Bundok which means "High Mountain". At the center of the mountain range is a cliff known as Bagwis Cliff by the locals, yet due to its shape that resembles a goat's breast, it is also called as Susong-Kambing (en: Goat's Breast). In time, mountaineers have also mistakenly named this cliff as Susong Dalaga (en. maiden's breast) which is actually the oldest name of Manabu Peak.