(L-R Ed, Richard, Boying, Joey, Jerick, Long, Anne and Dennis.)

The Metropolitan Mountaineering Society or commonly known as MMS was founded 1994 born out of pure love of nature, the outdoors and it’s exploration. The group started out through the efforts of Denis Sacro, who also became its second president. He initiated its organization through advertisements from newspapers particularly in the Buy and Sell magazine. Ed Ocampo, Long Henson, Jerick Yaya and Dennis attended the first meeting held at the latter’s residence at Murphy Cubao Quezon City. No one among them belongs to any similar organization before although most of them have informal trekking and climbing experiences. During the month of January of 1994, the initial policies of the organization were established. The first official climb which is now considered the foundation day of the organization happened on March 13 of the same year at Mt. Makiling attended by now considered the eight founding members Dennis, Long, Ed, Jerick, Boying Amio, Richard Kahulugan, Joey Avila and Anne De leon (now Anne Sacro).

On September, the organization drafted the first constitution and by October, the group was registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission as a non-stock, non-profit organization. The eight founding members plus Bong Ocampo were the first board of directors of the group. October 24-25, the organization was involved with the search and rescue efforts of the infamous Mt. Halcon tragedy, as two of its members, Bong Ramos and Richard Kahulugan were included in the ill-fated expedition via the San Beda Mountaineering Group. It was the induction climb of Bong Ramos. A thanksgiving and commendation party was held immediately after the incident at Bong Ocampo’s residence at New Manila Quezon City. The first logo of MMS was unveiled latter during the year after a logo-making contest was held. It was Jonjon Alegre who won the contest. The first MMS Awards Night was held during the first Christmas party of the organization also held at Bong, Ocampo’s residence. The rest of the year was dedicated to the exploration of new destinations particularly Mt. Cristobal (Oct 15-16), Talamitam (Dec 30-31) and Malipuño (Dec). The group also conducted a fun climb at Famy on September 10-11.

The MMS website ushered in a "new era" in terms of promotions and recruitment for the website gave exposure and contacts to the organization with the growing Internet users. Boying Amio was the first member to climb outside of the country at Mt. Fuji in Japan during his training there. Also this year, the Fiscal Year of the organization was changed from January to December of the same year to a July to May of the succeeding year. Long Henson took over as editor in chief of the MMS Explorer with four editions under his editorship. 1996 was also the year MMS began naming batch names from mountains with batch 94 as Halcon, 95 as Pulog and 1997 as Guiting Guiting. The group participated in an invitational climb of the Philipinas Sierra to Daraitan, Tanay on July 6-7 and the CFTF to the Twin Falls in Cavinti Laguna. Other official explorations includes Maculot (Jun 15-14), Majayjay, Halcon (Oct 30- Nov 2), Natib (Sept), Talamitam (Sept 7-8), Twin Falls (1996) and Pulog (Dec 27-30).

During this year, Jerick commissioned Bob Gamboa to redesign the MMS Logo, which was presented during this year’s Christmas party held at Mark Salcedo’s residence at Merville Parañaque. Also on 1997, the first major fund-raising activity of the organization was held to fund the tree planting activity at Mt. Natib in Bataan on October 19-18. It was a "T-shirt selling" campaign that generated more than enough earnings to fund the activity. Bob Gamboa did the T-shirt design. The editorship of the MMS explorer was turned over to Mark Salcedo. Another project enacted late this year was a gift giving campaign held during the December Mt. Pulog climb. Other climbs that year were in Mt. Sembrano (Aug 16-17), Buntot Palos (Sep 20-21) and Pico de Loro. Also late this year, the MMS guided foreign tourist free of charge to Mt. Romelo in Famy Laguna.

START OF THE GOLDEN YEAR (1998)

1998 will be remembered as the rejuvenation of MMS. The investment of the group through its website has already posted results as more members are joining the group via the Internet. The organization has also gained prominence in the local mountaineering circuit due to its website, which was face-lifted this year through the help of Long’s DTI co employees. The training for batch 1998 will also be remembered as a milestone since it was re-structured and improved to serve the new ideals of the organization. Its direction was re-focused on developing the members wholistically in terms of skills and personality. Focus was also placed on the develeopment of teamanship and camaraderie of the group. Since then, It has served as a standard in terms of BMC training. It was the last time Long Henson was assigned and has accepted the role as the Training Officer. The training was also a success since the officers of 1997 headed by Jerick Yaya fully supported the training activities. Jerick also implemented the MMS T-shirt campaign with old members having black shirts and the trainees with gray-colored ones. Jerick also commissioned members to re-draft the constitution and by-laws, which they did for two days at the house of one of the trainee, Thon Tan at Quezon City. Members who have attended included Jerick Yaya, Long Henson, Mark Salcedo, Jonjon Alegre, Bong Ramos, Bob Ali and Jun Medrano. The constitution was re-drafted based on current needs of the organization. It was unanimously ratified during the induction party for batch 98.

1998 was also the first year the MMS Summer Games were held incorporated in the training of batch 98. The Black Team was the overall champion composing of the old members. More traditions were also established including the trainees’ initiation night, the induction party, which was first held at Mhon Martinez Residence at Matapang St., Quezon City and the first publication of the Training Year Book. It was the first MMS party to incorporate themes as well as costumes. This year it was "Malong Only." Composing batch 98 were Joan Aday, Jovert Bautista, Girlie Elman, Roy Flores, Jun Genoveza, Ariel Geronimo, Erwin Luz, Mhon Martinez, Kae Masangkay, Ting Ocampo, Boki Olipas, Bong Pico, Nini Salgado, Thon Tan and Queenie Tolentino. Training venue includes Sembrano (Feb), Makiling (Feb 28), Cristobal (Mar 7-8), Banahaw (Mar 27-29) Isarog, Itbog, Asog, Ugu (April 8-12), Talipanan (May 1-3) and Famy (May 10-11). The first members of this batch to be inducted were Ariel, Boki and Roy on Mt. Halcon (June) where the term "Warriors" was first used in replacement to the term "Hard Core" for those who have climbed Halcon.

During the batch 98 or also known as Batch Ugu induction night, an election for the officers for the year 98-99 were conducted with Mark Salcedo as President, Jun Medrano as Vice President, Blanca Ocampo-Yaya as Secretary, Mercy Guilas as Treasurer and Ariel Geronimo and Joan Aday as PRO. A turn over ceremony and a planning session were held at Angat Bulacan on July 5-6 which was another milestone in the life of the organization for it once more elevated the professionalism and organization of the club a step higher. It gave the club a more directed, meaningful and interesting activities for the fiscal year 98-99.

The organizational structures were also strengthened due to the efforts of the officers. Worth mentioning were the MMS equipment renting guidelines and fees through the efforts of Merci Guilas and Bob Ali as the Property Custodian and the proper filing of the MMS documents, the publication of the STEC Updates and the creation of a new committee, the STEC or Special Training and Education Committee through the efforts of Blanca Ocampo and Mhon Martinez. Another fund raising drive was spearheaded by Jeric Yaya as member of the Special Projects Committee which was a "T-shirt selling" campaign for the benefit of the Dumagats. The Dumagat Immersion Project was one of the biggest projects of MMS up to date, which was a consolidated effort of the entire membership, and as a batch project of batch 98. It was a medical mission, gifts giving and immersion with the Dumagats of Sierra Madre. It was conducted in partnership with a church based organization, the Galilee Foundation of Doña Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan.

Another group was created through the proposal of Long Henson, the MMS Search and Rescue Group after some members trained under the Philippine Air Force 505th Rescue Wing. The initial members were Queenie Tolentino, Bob Ali, Jun Medrano, Edwin Serapio, and Long Henson. Another first in the history of Philippine mountaineering was when a group of MMS members were commissioned to write the first book on Philippine Mountaineering. The project was a joint effort of the entire membership, the authors were Bong Pico, Long Henson, Joan Aday, Mhon Martinez, Merci Guilas, Ariel Geronimo and Bob Ali. It was also during this year when the precursor of the MetropolitanMS Egroup was launched, the MMS E-Flash which is an e-mail news update on everything related to mountaineering and MMS. Long was the first editor of the e-group. The calendar of activities of the group was also published on a monthly magazine, the Sun Star Horizon. There were also a number of climbs during the year some of them unofficial while the official ones includes Maculot Fun Climb (Jun 13-14), Natib Animal Day Climb, Quezon National Park Open Climb, Doña Remedios Trinidad River Gliding, Mt. Banoi in Batangas and the Banahaw de Tayabas Exploration (Sept 12-13 & 26-27). Mhon Martinez and Nini Salgado were inducted at Mt. Apo during the same year. The year’s Christmas Party was held at Mhon’s residence at Quezon City with a theme "Retro".

Dumagat Logo 505 PAF Logo

NO WAY BUT UP (1999)

The year started with the first award of the MMS website, the sport website award of the night given by a foreign sports web award giving body. Training commences the first quarter of the year with Joan Aday as the Training Committee Head. The orientation was held at Max’s Restaurant at Greenbelt Makati. The training venue were are follows : Mhon’s Martinez’ farm in Novaliches Quezon City (Jan 30-31), Mt. Banoi (Feb 13-14), Mt. Makiling (March 13-14), Mt. Banahaw, Montalban for the rock climbing module, Power Up for the indoor climbing lecture and Mt. Ugu where batch 98 member Kae Masangkay was inducted. One of the training components was offered as a reach-out program of the group and was opened to non-members. It was an environmental seminar entitled "Mountaineering Tungo sa Makabuluhang Pag-akyat sa Bundok" held at the NEC building in UP Diliman Quezon City.

The following were the members of batch 98: Rovert Arevalo, Rosan Cruz, Irene Descargar, Sharelene Dimayuga, Nancy Geronimo, Rommel Jotic, Tara Lupiba, Beth Policarpio, Chie Policarpio Keith Villaruel, Myrtle Yap, and Erwin Yap. The second MMS sportsfest was held at the Amoranto Staduim and then on Capones Island on May 1-2 with the Blue Team as the overall champion. The batch 98 induction party was held at Erwin & Myrtle Yap’s residence at Parañaque Metro Manila where the election of officers for the year 99-2000 was held. The new officers were, Jun Medrano as President, Bob Gamboa as VP, Rosan Cruz and Joan Aday as Secretaries, Blanca Yaya and Kae Masangkay as Treasurers and Mhon Martinez and Myrtle yap as PROs.

The MMS Book was also published and launched by the middle of the year. It was distributed to various mountaineering stores and lately to large bookstores.

MMS Book

Two e-groups were also launched, the Metropolitan MS E-group open for members and non-members discussing anything related to mountaineering and the MMSChika, which is a member’s only e-group discussing internal to MMS topics and issues. The MMS e-group was the first e-group dedicated to Philippine mountaineering. Climbs conducted during 1999 includes Biak na Bato Caving Exploration, Mt. Malipuño Climb, an induction climb at Mt. Halcon where Edwin Serapio of batch 95 was inducted, Mt. Pulog Induction Climb of Myrtle Yap, Erwin Yap, Irene Descargar, and Rommel Jotic, Mt. Halcon induction climb of Robert Arevalo, Matulid Exlporation, Mt. Apo climb with Tara Lupiba as inductee, and minor explorations on Sembrano, Buntot Palos, Pico de Loro and Talamitam.

The Presidents of the Organization as of this Date: