Los Baños is a 1st class urban municipality in the province of Laguna, Philippines. According to the 2000 census, it has a population of 82,027 people in 17,030 households. It has a total land area of 56.5 square kilometers and is bordered on the south and southwest by Mount Makiling, on the north by Laguna de Bay, on the northwest by Calamba City and on the east by the town of Bay. The town is located 63 kilometers southeast of Manila and is accessible via the South Luzon Expressway.

The town lies on the northern slopes of the long dormant volcano Mount Makiling and is known among tourists for its hot spring resorts that dot the area. Los Baños is also the site of the largest campus of the University of the Philippines (see University of the Philippines, Los Baños) and local and international research centers such as the International Rice Research Institute, the Philippine Rice Research Institute and SEAMEO-SEARCA, making the town a temporary home for tens of thousands of undergraduate and graduate students, researchers and expatriates.

In 1979, the evolution and development of academic excellence in Los Baños moved the people of Los Baños to request then president Ferdinand Marcos to declare the municipality as "A Special University Zone", granted on 15 June 1982 by virtue of letter of instruction No. 883.

Los Baños was further declared as an "Agriculture, Forestry, and Life Sciences Community" on 17 March 1982 by virtue of Executive Order No. 784 (Section 23).

On August 7, 2000, Los Baños was declared as a "Special Science and Nature City of the Philippines" through Presidential Proclamation No. 349 in recognition as a center for science and technology in the development of agriculture and preservation of the environment.

Aside from its importance in academics, science and research, Los Baños is a well-known tourist destination. Because of the town's proximity to Metro Manila, Los Baños' hot spring resorts are frequent weekend or summer getaways for residents of the vast metropolis and tourists from other places in the Philippines and abroad. Tourists who visit Los Baños also come to the several native delicacies stores in the town to buy the town's famous Buko pie (coconut pie).

During the 2005 Southeast Asian Games, Los Baños played host to the aquatics events, with the newly-built Trace Aquatic Center serving as the venue.

Barangays

Los Baños is politically subdivided into 14 barangays.

• Anos
• Bagong Silang
• Bambang
• Batong Malake
• Baybayin¹
• Bayog
• Lalakay
• Maahas
• Malinta
• Mayondon
• Putho-Tuntungin
• San Antonio
• Tadlac
• Timugan¹

¹Forms the town proper of Los Baños

Places of interest

• International Rice Research Institute headquarters, located within the campus of U.P. Los Baños
• Jamboree Site, a campsite at the foot of Mount Makiling adjacent to U.P. Los Baños, which is being managed by the Boy Scouts of the Philippines and the site of the 10th World Scout Jamboree in 1959
• Mount Makiling
• National Arts Center, a patch of land at the foot of Mount Makiling adjacent to U.P. Los Baños, which is being managed by the Cultural Center of the Philippines and the site of the Philippine High School for the Arts, a special school for young artist scholars
• Pook ni Maria Makiling, an eco-tourism site adjacent to the Jamboree Site, National Arts Center and U.P. Los Baños
• University of the Philippines, Los Baños

External links

• Municipality of Los Baños official
• Philippine Standard Geographic Code
• 2000 Philippine Census Information
• Institute of Development Management and Governance
• Los Baños History
• http://www.makilingchallenge.tk - Makiling Challenge, in the Science and Nature City of Los Baños, the longest running competitive foot race in the province of Laguna, organized by students!

Municipalities of Laguna | Los Baños