Pangasinan town nurtures 2 of RP's oldest trees

Natividad, Pangasinan, Philippines  – Looking for the country’s oldest trees?

At least one or two of such “mute witnesses of Philippine life and times” are found in this town at the easternmost part of Pangasinan.

Easily, one of them is 250 years old or more and the other perhaps lesser.

The older of the two is the bangar situated in the eastern part of Barangay Batchelor East. The other is a dalipawen beside the public market in the town proper.

About 20 meters tall, the bangar majestically serves as the “sentinel of Batchelor” near the foot of the storied Caraballo Mountains.

Three years ago, then 96-year-old Quintin Fernandez told this writer in an interview about Natividad’s early years that the bangar was “already that tall” when the Fernandez family settled here in the early part of the 20th century.

Uncle Quintin died early this year before the town could honor him as its oldest resident – almost a centenarian – during the town fiesta last April 24-25.

Our late paternal grandfather had his roots in Sto. Domingo (Ilocos Sur) (or is it San Ildefonso?) – the late Philippine STAR publisher/columnist Max Soliven used to tell this writer that one used to be the barangay of the other. Manong Max was a son of Sto. Domingo.

Our late grandmother, who died a centena­rian in April 1987, was born in Laoac, a barangay of Manaoag (Pangasinan) and now a town. As our elders migrated farther southeast, they found home in the once frontier community that is now Natividad.

Back to bangar

In 2002, when Natividad celebrated its 100th year, the municipal government then headed by Mayor Alejandrea Supnet launched a search for Natividad’s “century trees.”

The bangar handily won.

Runner-up was the dalipawen beside the market in the poblacion. It is said that the remains of the well-loved American military officer assigned here at the early part of the 20th century – Capt. Joseph Batchelor – were buried beside the dalipawen. After him was named Barangay Batchelor, which was later divided into Batchelor East and Batchelor West.

Named after the Lady of the Nativity, Natividad became a town on March 7, 1902. It was carved out of barangays of adjacent towns – San Nicolas to the north, Tayug to the west, and San Quintin to the south. East of it is the Caraballo Mountains.

Bangar (scientific name: Sterculia foetida L.) belongs to the family Sterculiaceae. Its English name is Indian Almond, also Pon tree.

It is known by different names in various parts of the country.

It is bangar in Ilocos Norte, Abra; Kalumpang in Nueva Ecija, Tarlac, Pampanga, Bataan, Mindoro, Palawan, Quezon, Camarines provinces, Iloilo, and Cotabato; and karumpang in Davao.

The tree’s parts have many commercial uses, according to a book titled “Biofuel Plants from the Philippines” published by the Asia-Pacific Corp. (APC).

The 280-page volume – authored by Dr. Elvira Fernandez of Los Baños, APC president Enrique Crizaldo and APC agronomist Babylon Tizon – features 51 trees, shrubs, palms, herbs, grasses, and a vine whose oils have economic value.

The oil extracted from bangar  seeds is used as illuminant and can be used as a laxative when eaten raw. When mixed with white earth, it can be used as paint. Its wood is also used for temporary construction and packing cases.

Bangar is also found in Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, Hawaii and Africa.