Project on to bring back balakat trees to Mabalacat

MABALACAT, Pam­panga  – The time may not be long when the landscape of this bustling town in the crossroads of Central Luzon will be re-greened with the tree species after which it was named.

Aiming to bring back the lush forest of balakat is a project of the Mabalacat municipal government, Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), and Recyclers Foundation Inc. (RFI).

The three entities have signed a memorandum of agreement for the implementation of the “Balakat Greening Project” to save the vanishing tree species.

The signatories were Mayor Marino Morales, DENR regional executive director Regidor de Leon, and RFI director Rox Peña.

Mabalacat means “full of balakat trees.”

Once upon a time, a vast portion of this erstwhile frontier town was mantled by stands of balakat (scientific name: Zizyphus talanai Blco).

Now, only a few balakat trees can be seen in this booming town strategically situated at the north end of the North Luzon Expressway.

For a start, the DENR-Ecosystems Research and Development Service-Region 3 headed by director Remigio Atabay and the RFI have conducted an inventory of the remaining balakat trees here as well as seed sourcing, seedling propagation, and other activities.

The municipal government will soon put up a balakat forest park and enact a municipal ordinance declaring the balakat the municipal tree.

The Los Baños-based DENR-Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) reported that Ma­balacat was once a forest of balakat trees. But the trees began to dwindle as the town’s early settlers, the Negritos, cleared the land.

Balakat, which is known among Ilocanos as aligamen and among Tagalogs as talanai, is considered commercially important because of its large, long, and straight trunk that reaches a diameter of one meter and a height of 30 meters.

“The wood of Zizyphus is used for general construction, furniture and cabinets, tool handles, turnery, household utensils, bowling pins, baseball bats, and chisels. It is also suitable for the production of veneer and plywood,” states a fact sheet provided this writer by the ERDB, which is headed by director Marcial Amaro Jr.

“In the Philippines, Z. talanai is planted as an ornamental,” it adds.

In times past, too, balakat timber was used for house posts and ship masts.

But the wanton exploitation of the balakat forest resulted in the drastic reduction of the tree species.

“Today, balakat is rarely seen in the town,” ERDB notes. “There are just a few (balakat trees) left standing in several schools, settlement areas, and in front of the Mabalacat Catholic Church. It is said that most of the residents would not even be able to recognize this tree which is said to be the heritage tree of Mabalacat,” the ERDB says. The Balakat Greening Project will soon change that.