Mantayupan Falls

Mantayupan Falls drops in two stages in the hills above Barili on Cebu’s southwest coast: a 14-meter first tier that most visitors treat as a warm-up, followed by the main 98-meter drop that makes this the tallest waterfall on the island. The water lands in a wide pool deep enough for swimming, ringed by fern growth that stays green through the dry months because the falls keep the immediate air humid regardless of the season. Locally the site is also known as Ambakan, and for most of Barili’s history it stayed that way — a name known mainly to residents rather than a marked destination. Before 1985, the falls were largely avoided even by locals, kept off-limits more by old superstition about the place than by the difficult terrain leading in.

That changed with a mini-hydropower plant the Cebu I Electric Cooperative built at the falls in 1985, drawing on the drop to supply power to the surrounding barangays — one of the earliest hydropower installations of its kind in the country. It still runs on a limited overnight schedule today and doubles as an irrigation source for the rice fields in Barangay Campangga below. The falls didn’t become an organized tourist stop until 2010, when a cooperative formed under then-barangay captain Rolando Jimenez took over managing the site, building out the access paths, formalizing entrance fees, and adding cottage and camping rentals where before there was only a trail.

The same cooperative has kept up a monthly tree-planting program in the watershed above the falls, and the forest canopy visible from the pool today owes a fair amount to that ongoing effort rather than to untouched growth alone. Safety improvements followed the same push: after an earlier electrocution incident near the pool, the cooperative moved to keep electrical lines clear of the swimming area entirely. Barili’s interior barangays still run on a mix of upland farming and the modest tourism income the falls now bring in — cottage rentals and a handful of food stalls near the pool, nothing scaled up. The site’s draw is still the drop itself rather than anything built around it, even with the cooperative’s additions. Mantayupan was also among the first waterfalls in the province to get this kind of formal tourism development at all, ahead of many sites in south Cebu that only saw organized access roads and paid entry systems years later — an early mover’s advantage that’s part of why it still ranks as one of the more visited natural sites in this corner of the island.

• The main pool at the base of the 98-meter drop is where most people swim — currents are mild outside heavy rain.
• Visit on a weekday; weekend crowds concentrate around the same pool edge.
• The climb to see the upper tier is optional and adds real time — decide before you start whether you want both levels.
• The falls are managed by a local cooperative rather than the municipal government directly, so entrance fees and rental income go back into barangay upkeep rather than a general tourism budget.

Explore More in Moalboal and Southwest Cebu

• Capilla Santa Ana Museum
• Lake Pingganon
• The Labyrinth Toledo