Last Updated on July 27, 2026 by Daniel Globe
APO Hiking Society is one of the most influential names in Philippine popular music. The group began in 1969 as a student ensemble at Ateneo de Manila High School and later became famous through the trio of Jim Paredes, Boboy Garrovillo, and Danny Javier. Across decades of recording and performing, APO helped popularize original Filipino songwriting through songs about love, friendship, growing up, humor, everyday life, and, at key moments, politics and national identity.
Quick Answer
APO Hiking Society was a landmark Filipino musical group best known for Jim Paredes, Boboy Garrovillo, and Danny Javier. Formed in 1969, APO became closely associated with Original Pilipino Music, produced enduring songs such as “Panalangin” and “When I Met You,” and influenced generations of Filipino songwriters and performers.
Key Takeaways
- APO Hiking Society traces its beginnings to 1969 at Ateneo de Manila High School, not to a hiking club or Mount Apo.
- The group developed from a larger student ensemble into the celebrated trio of Jim Paredes, Boboy Garrovillo, and Danny Javier.
- Danny Javier is widely credited with helping introduce the term “Original Pilipino Music,” or OPM, during the late 1970s.
- APO’s best-known songs cover romance, friendship, youth, humor, nostalgia, and everyday Filipino life, while a smaller part of its work engaged directly with politics.
- The trio formally retired in 2010. Javier died in 2022, but Paredes and Garrovillo later returned to the stage together to perform APO’s music.
- APO’s catalog continues to circulate through streaming, covers, tribute projects, anniversary concerts, and newer releases under the APO Hiking Society name.
APO Hiking Society’s History and Name
APO Hiking Society began in 1969 at Ateneo de Manila High School as a much larger student musical ensemble. Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo were among its early members, while Danny Javier joined later. Over time, most of the members followed other paths, and the smaller lineup that became famous eventually centered on Paredes, Garrovillo, and Javier.
The group’s original name was the Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society. The name was playful wordplay involving the initials associated with their school and Philippine revolutionary intellectual Apolinario Mabini. It was not a reference to Mount Apo, nor did it originate from a shared passion for hiking. Contemporary accounts of the group’s history, including GMA News’ account of the name’s origin, connect it directly to Mabini.
By the early 1970s, APO was earning attention beyond the school community. Its combination of harmony, humor, songwriting, and stage banter helped distinguish the group in a Philippine music scene that was beginning to give greater commercial space to original local material.
APO Hiking Society’s Influence on OPM
APO Hiking Society became closely associated with the rise of Original Pilipino Music. One particularly important part of that history involves Danny Javier, who is widely credited with introducing or popularizing the phrase Original Pilipino Music, commonly shortened to OPM, while working in the recording industry during the late 1970s. The term eventually grew far beyond its original commercial use and became a broad label for Filipino popular music.
The group’s contribution was not simply that it sang in Filipino. Philippine artists had recorded in local languages long before APO. What APO helped demonstrate was that original songs rooted in Filipino experiences could thrive as mainstream pop without abandoning polished songwriting, memorable melodies, humor, or contemporary arrangements.
The trio also wrote in both Filipino and English. Their catalog moved comfortably between pop, soft rock, ballads, comic songs, and material influenced by the broader Manila Sound era. That variety helped them reach listeners who might otherwise have viewed locally written music as secondary to imported songs.
Among their widely recognized recordings are “Panalangin,” “Batang-Bata Ka Pa,” “Ewan,” “Pumapatak ang Ulan,” “Awit ng Barkada,” “Kaibigan,” “Yakap sa Dilim,” and “When I Met You.” These songs cover very different subjects, which is an important reason APO’s work has remained useful to later generations of Filipino performers.
APO’s importance to OPM rests less on a single musical style than on its proof that original Filipino songwriting could be commercially popular, culturally specific, humorous, romantic, and musically adaptable at the same time.
APO Hiking Society’s Impact on Filipino Culture
The impact of APO Hiking Society extends beyond record sales or individual hits. Many of its songs became connected with familiar stages of Filipino life: school friendships, courtship, family relationships, growing older, reunions, heartbreak, and celebrations.
“Saan Na Nga Ba’ng Barkada,” for example, became associated with looking back on school friendships even though Jim Paredes has explained that it was written years after graduation. Songs such as “Awit ng Barkada” and “Kaibigan” likewise helped make friendship a recurring subject in mainstream Filipino pop rather than treating romance as the only emotional theme worth singing about.
APO also brought humor into its music and public performances. Wordplay became part of the group’s identity, including repeated use of “APO” inside titles and phrases. That mix of seriousness and comedy allowed the trio to discuss ordinary life without sounding overly formal or detached from its audience.
Note: APO should not be described mainly as a political group. Jim Paredes has said that only a small portion of the group’s catalog was overtly political. Love songs, friendship songs, comic material, and observations about everyday life make up much of APO’s best-known work.
The Legacy of APO Hiking Society
APO’s legacy is visible both in its individual songs and in the breadth of its recorded catalog. The original article’s album table contained several inaccurate dates, titles, track totals, and unsupported chart positions. The following selected releases use verifiable catalog information instead.
| Selected Release | Release Year | Tracks | Notable Context |
| Pagkatapos ng Palabas | 1978 | 10 | Includes “Pumapatak ang Ulan,” “Nakapagtataka,” and “Pag-ibig.” |
| Ten Years Together | 1980 | 11 | Includes “Batang-Bata Ka Pa,” “Ewan,” “Panalangin,” and “Doo Bidoo.” |
| True to My Music | 1982 | 10 | Includes “When I Met You,” “Yakap sa Dilim,” and the title track. |
| PaskonAPO | 1991 | 11 | A Christmas album that includes “Tuloy Na Tuloy Pa Rin ang Pasko.” |
The range shown by these recordings helps explain why APO’s catalog has survived changes in musical fashion. Its songs can function as romantic ballads, reunion songs, Christmas standards, comic numbers, or reflections on youth and adulthood.
The group’s collaborative identity also mattered. Paredes, Garrovillo, and Javier were not interchangeable performers: each brought a different writing and vocal personality to the trio. Their ability to combine those personalities without erasing them became part of APO’s appeal.
APO Hiking Society’s Contribution to Social and Political Issues
Politics was an important part of APO’s history, especially during the Martial Law era, but it should be described with care. Jim Paredes has recalled that the group faced restrictions and developed a reputation for political expression during the Marcos years. At the same time, he has emphasized that only a small number of APO songs were overtly political.
One of the clearest links between APO and Philippine political history came through Paredes’ composition “Handog ng Pilipino sa Mundo.” Written after the 1986 People Power Revolution, the song commemorated the uprising that ended Ferdinand Marcos’ rule. Its famous original recording brought together 15 Filipino artists, rather than functioning simply as a normal trio recording by APO.
The distinction matters because it shows how APO’s cultural role worked. The group did not build its entire identity around protest music, but its members were willing to address political events when they believed the moment demanded it. That gave political songs and performances added weight precisely because listeners already knew APO through love songs, humor, friendship songs, television, and popular entertainment.
GMA News’ interview with Jim Paredes about APO during Martial Law provides useful first-person context for this part of the group’s history.
Retirement, Danny Javier’s Death, and APO After 2010
After roughly four decades as one of the country’s best-known musical groups, APO announced that it would retire as a trio in 2010. Its farewell concert series, Paalam nAPO, marked the end of the long-running Jim-Boboy-Danny collaboration as an active group.
Danny Javier died on October 31, 2022, at age 75. His death closed the possibility of a complete reunion of the classic trio. Javier’s importance extended beyond his singing and songwriting: he is widely credited with helping introduce the term Original Pilipino Music, or OPM, which eventually became one of the most familiar labels in Philippine popular culture.
Paredes and Garrovillo nevertheless continued to perform together after Javier’s death. They staged shows featuring APO material and took part in anniversary performances celebrating the group’s catalog. These appearances are better understood as a continuation of APO’s musical legacy than as a recreation of the original trio.
Current update: Digital music services continue to carry new material under the APO Hiking Society name. Apple Music lists “Tayo Nang Dalawa,” released February 11, 2026, as the artist’s latest single.
APO Hiking Society’s Enduring Popularity
APO Hiking Society’s songs have remained visible because they are attached to situations that continue to recur in people’s lives. “Panalangin” and “When I Met You” remain natural choices for romantic occasions. “Awit ng Barkada,” “Kaibigan,” and “Saan Na Nga Ba’ng Barkada” work in reunions and reflections on friendship. “Batang-Bata Ka Pa” speaks to the tension between youth and growing up.
This emotional range makes the songs easy to rediscover. Someone who first hears APO through a parent’s record collection, karaoke, a television performance, a streaming playlist, or a younger artist’s cover can still understand the central feeling of the song without knowing the circumstances in which it was originally released.
The group’s later anniversary concerts also demonstrated this cross-generational appeal. Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo have continued appearing with singers from later generations, allowing APO’s catalog to function as a shared musical language rather than simply as nostalgia for listeners who experienced the 1970s and 1980s firsthand.
APO Hiking Society’s Influence on Contemporary Music
One of the clearest signs of APO’s influence is how often its songs have been reinterpreted. Tribute projects and covers have introduced the material to listeners whose musical reference points are rock, alternative music, acoustic pop, or newer forms of OPM rather than the Manila Sound era.
That continuing reuse also demonstrates the strength of APO’s songwriting. A song such as “Panalangin” can survive a different singer, arrangement, tempo, or production style because the melody and central idea remain recognizable. The same is true of many of the group’s friendship and coming-of-age songs.
APO’s influence should therefore not be reduced to modern musicians copying its exact sound. The larger inheritance is a songwriting approach: use everyday Filipino experiences, write memorable melodies, allow humor and seriousness to coexist, and treat locally written music as something capable of standing beside international pop.
“When I Met You” and APO’s Romantic Songwriting
“When I Met You” is one of APO Hiking Society’s best-known English-language love songs. Jim Paredes is credited as its composer, and the recording appears on True to My Music. Its subject is the emotional transformation that comes with falling in love, not travel or a romantic vacation.
The song illustrates an important part of APO’s appeal: OPM did not require every song to use Filipino lyrics or discuss explicitly national themes. An original song written by a Filipino artist could still be part of the OPM tradition while using English and exploring a universal experience.
Alongside “Panalangin,” “Yakap sa Dilim,” and other romantic material, “When I Met You” helped give APO a catalog that could move from playful songs and friendship narratives to sincere love ballads without losing the group’s identity.
APO Hiking Society’s Lasting Impact
APO Hiking Society helped shape the language of modern Filipino popular music. Its significance comes from several connected achievements: a long catalog of original songs, a strong songwriting identity, an important role in the growth of OPM, memorable television and concert work, occasional political engagement, and an ability to write about ordinary Filipino relationships in ways that remained accessible decades later.
The story is also inseparable from Jim Paredes, Boboy Garrovillo, and Danny Javier as collaborators. Javier’s death means the classic trio cannot be recreated, but the music has continued through Paredes and Garrovillo’s performances, tribute projects, streaming, covers, anniversary celebrations, and recordings released under the APO name.
That continuing circulation may be the clearest measure of APO’s legacy. Songs written for listeners decades ago still appear at weddings, reunions, concerts, karaoke sessions, playlists, and new performances. Rather than surviving only as historical artifacts, many of them remain part of everyday Filipino musical life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the history of APO Hiking Society?
APO Hiking Society began in 1969 at Ateneo de Manila High School as a larger student ensemble. The lineup changed over time and eventually became famous as the trio of Jim Paredes, Boboy Garrovillo, and Danny Javier. The trio built a career lasting roughly four decades before formally retiring in 2010.
Why is it called APO Hiking Society?
The group’s early name was Apolinario Mabini Hiking Society, a playful reference connected with Ateneo de Manila High School and Philippine hero Apolinario Mabini. Contrary to a common assumption, the name was not inspired by Mount Apo or by a shared interest in hiking.
What are some of APO Hiking Society’s most popular songs?
Well-known APO songs include “When I Met You,” “Panalangin,” “Batang-Bata Ka Pa,” “Ewan,” “Pumapatak ang Ulan,” “Awit ng Barkada,” “Kaibigan,” “Yakap sa Dilim,” and “Saan Na Nga Ba’ng Barkada.”
What is the significance of “When I Met You”?
“When I Met You” is a romantic song composed by Jim Paredes and recorded by APO Hiking Society for True to My Music. Its enduring melody and direct expression of falling in love have made it one of the group’s most recognizable English-language recordings.
What impact did APO Hiking Society have on Filipino music?
APO helped establish original Filipino songwriting as a major part of mainstream popular music. The group became closely associated with OPM, while Danny Javier is widely credited with helping introduce the term “Original Pilipino Music.” Their catalog also influenced later artists through its emphasis on storytelling, melody, humor, friendship, romance, and Filipino everyday life.
Is APO Hiking Society still active?
The classic trio formally retired in 2010, and Danny Javier died in 2022. Jim Paredes and Boboy Garrovillo have nevertheless performed APO material together in later concerts and anniversary events. Digital music services also continue to list releases under the APO Hiking Society name, including the 2026 single “Tayo Nang Dalawa.”
Sources
- GMA News — Bayani sa likod ng APO Hiking Society — group history and the origin of the APO name.
- Philippine Daily Inquirer — A life beyond existing: OPM icon Danny Javier — Javier’s career and the history of the OPM term.
- GMA News — Jim Paredes on APO during Martial Law — political context and Paredes’ account of the group’s political work.
- The Philippine Star — APO says Paalam nAPO — documentation of the group’s 2010 retirement.
- Philippine News Agency — APO Hiking Society’s Danny Javier dies at 75 — Javier’s death and contribution to OPM.
- Apple Music — APO Hiking Society — current catalog, major recordings, and recent releases.