A mussaenda for the President

This is a sure way to cheer up the President, who was confined at Luke’s Hospital recently for the treatment of an ailment. Yesterday, UPLB Chancellor Ray Velasco and a group of scientists from the UPLB Institute of Plant Breeding presented her with a mussaenda hybrid named in her honor. Mussaenda ‘Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’ is the first mussaenda hybrid named after a Philippine president and the first to be registered with the National Seed Industry Council of the Department of Agriculture and released in this century.

If you don’t know what mussaendas are, they are ornamental shrubs with one or more of the sepals or calyx lobes developing into a large, colorful, petaloid structure. They have a long blooming period, almost throughout the year, except from January to March when they are less floriferous.

Collectively known as Doñas, mussaendas they are cultivated throughout the nation and the hybrids developed, considered a centennial breakthrough, are the country’s most important contribution to the world of ornamental horticulture

The development of mussaenda hybrids gained momentum after the discovery in 1915, in Mt. Makiling, UPLB, of a mutant of the species M. philippica. Mussaenda ‘Doña Aurora’ was named in 1938 in honor of the late First Lady, Aurora Quezon.

The late Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali, plant breeder and former dean of the UP College of Agriculture, initiated the develop-ment of the hybrids in 1948 with M. erythrophylla, a species with single red petaloid and M. ‘Doña Aurora’ as parents.Continuous crossing and backcrossing resulted into the present colorful hybrids of mussaendas differing in the number of petaloids depending on the parents used.

The naming of the hybrids after the First Ladies has become a tradition although there are those which were given Filipino names after 1986. For example, there are the M. ‘Diwata,’ M. ‘Lakambini’ and M. ‘Maria Clara.’

According to the IPB specialists, the Mussaenda ‘Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’ is a cross between ‘Doña Evangelina’ (the President’s late mother), which has full, deep red petaloids as the female parent, and ‘Doña’ Auora,’ which has full, white petaloids as the male parent. The hybrid cannot be called ‘Doña’ because that address is reserved for First Ladies. (Just a thought – shouldn’t a hybrid be named in honor of First Gentleman Mike Arroyo?)

Early this year, IPB named a gumamela in honor of one of the country’s most accomplished women – Hibiscus Nelia T. Gonzalez.

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A STUDY MISSION from the fabulous tourism eden, the Republic of Meldives, leaves Manila today after three days of listening to local officials give pointers on local governance and decentralization. The delegates from the Ministry of Atolls Development were Minister Mohamed Waheed Deen, Exec. Dir. Mohamed Faarook, and directors Ahmed Shareef Nafees, Salma Firky, and Mohamed Anil (of the Attorney Generals Office).

At a dinner hosted by Mina Gabor, former tourism secretary and currently honorary consul to the Republic of Maldives, Minister Deen said Maldivian President Abdul Gayoon’s agenda and road map calls for "an effective democratic system" instituted by next year. A presidential-parliamentary system operates in Maldives, and only the president is elected; the cabinet and agency heads are appointed by him. Hopefully reforms will enable the voting population of 300,000 Maldivians to elect the other officials and result in a more equitable distribution of the country’s wealth. As of now the economy is doing very well, what with a US$2,300 GDP. While his country has no beggars, 12 per cent of the population are earning only $150 a month from fishing and raising of small agricultural products.

Maldives is a country of more than 1,900 islands or atolls, many of which have been developed into 105 fabulous resorts that attract the rich and famous from Europe and Japan. Tourist arrivals are at 600,000 a year - double the size of the country’s population. Food is imported – meats from Dubai (which imports them from Australia), and vegetables and fruits from South Africa, India, Singapore and Bangkok. Minister Deen agreed with Mina about the high hotel rates – no less than $100 a day for a small room; some cottages cost $10,000 a day.

Minister Deen himself owns a 250-room hotel called the Bandos Island Resort. Islands are owned by the government and are leased to hoteliers, although recently small parcels have been sold for residential lots.

He said there is practically nothing to buy and sell in Maldives. People go there and stay for as long as 12 days "for honeymoon, diving, catarman sailing – any water sports activities."

We just hope that the delegation goes home with ideas on good governance, not corruption and quarrelsome politicians.

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YOU DON’T find only the best and finest of Philippine-made arts and crafts at Tesoro’s on A. Mabini, Ermita. You will see, on the fourth floor of the department store, the Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan (GAMABA) Collection, which is composed of photographs of artists and examples of their traditional folk arts and crafts. President Macapagal-Arroyo launched the collection recently.

GAMABA is the National Living Artist Award conferred by the National Commission on Culture and the Arts (NCCA) through its Gawad sa Manlilikha ng Bayan Committee to artists "who have preserved the best of our cultural heritage and are committed to passing this to the next generation, hence earning them the status of ‘National Living Treasures of the Philippines.’"

R.A. 7355, enacted in 1992, acknowledges the importance of the traditional folk artist "as a singular conduit between the skills of the past and the future," revitalizes a community’s artistic tradition, provides mechanisms for identifying and assisting these artists to transfer their skills to the community, and creates opportunities for popularizing their works locally and internationally. The Award was first known by the name National Folk Artist Award, a brainchild of the Rotary Club of Makati-Ayala.

Since 1992 only 11 such National Artists have been honored with the award. They are supported for life by the NCCA by way of a monthly stipend to enable them to train apprentices who will continue and preserve the traditional folk arts of the Philippines.

The awardees are the following:

For excellence in the weaving tradition, Lang Dulay of South Cotabato for preserving the T’boli tradfition of t’nalak on ikat cloth; Salinta Monon of Bansalan, Davao del Sur for maintaining the Bagobo art of abaca ikat weaving called inabal; Haja Amina Appi of Tandubas, Tawi-tawi, a master weaver of complex mats, and Darhata Sawai of Jolo, Sulu, for her dedication to Pis syabit tapestry weaving.

In silversmith/metallurgy: Eduardo Mutuc of Pampanga for reviving and excelling in both the secular and sacred arts in silver, bronze and wood.

Preservers of folk literature: Ginaw Bilog of Manalay, Oriental Mindoro for preserving the Hanunuo Mangyan script and Ambahan poetry, and Federico Caballero of Iloilo for his mastery in the Sugidanon chants and other native oral traditions.

Practitioners of traditional performing arts: Samaon Sulaiman from Maguindanao for his mastery of native Magindanao instruments; Masino Intaray from Palawan for his skills in and for sustaining the Pala’wan tradition in music and poetry; Alonzo Saclag from Kalinga, the master and innovator of Kalinga dance and culture, and Uwang Ahadas of Basilan for his devotion to and preservation of the traditions of Yakan music and performing arts.

The GAMABA Collection is open for public viewing free of charge, Monday to Saturday from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. For inquiries, call 524-336 to 40.

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