Sayote: ‘Hanging Green Gold’

Filipinos are familiar with the sayote, but not everyone knows its origins and its many uses.

 

BY ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
Northern Dispatch
Posted by Bulatlat

 

SAGADA, Mountain Province — Filipinos are familiar with sayote (Sechium edule) but not everyone knows that this vegetable was introduced by the Spaniards.

Sayote (called chayote by Spaniards) was introduced in Sagada sometime in 1922 by Spanish soldier-turned-farmer Jaime P. Masferre, the father of the legendary photo-artist Eduardo L. Masferre. The older Masferre introduced fruits and vegetables of Spanish origin in the Philippines.

The older Masferre brought the first sayote from Mexico when he and his son came back to the Philippines. They were on their way home after Eduardo lived in Spain for his elementary education, according to the June-July 1995 issue of the Sagada Postboy, a publication of the Saint Mary’s School, an American-established school in Sagada.

In an article written by Bartholomeo Dao-as, Eduardo’s maternal cousin, the father and son returned home from Spain to Sagada in 1922. That was after the older brother of Eduardo died and after Eduardo finished his elementary education in Spain.

Propagation

The Sagada Postboy traced that when the first sayote were then propagated in Sagada, “it eventually spread throughout the Cordillera as perhaps the most sustainable vegetable in the region,” according to an article written by then Sagada Mayor Thomas Killip.

Masferre established in Batalao, Sagada a 32-hectare farm, which was later reduced to 21 due to land claimants, said Jake Masferre Reyes, Jaime’s great grandson by Eduardo. The older Masferre had in his farm sayote and other foreign fruits and vegetables. However, with a cultural system where seeds and products were communal, he shared the propagated sayote and other plants with the Sagada residents.

“The chayote (or sayote) has climbed its way into the most barren and rocky terrains,” stated the Sagada Postboy.

Sayote survived in the Cordillera because its climate is similar to that of Mexico. In an article by R. Lira Saade of the National Herbarium of Mexico, chayote has been cultivated in Mexico since the pre-Columbian times. The plant’s common names of native origin, like the Mexican Nahuatl’s chayote or chayotli, are concentrated mainly in Mexico and Central America. She said the species was “undoubtedly domesticated within the cultural area of Mesoamerica, and specifically in the region lying between south Mexico and Guatemala.”

Saade added that chayote is grown in the area preferably between 800 and 1,800 meters in altitude. In Oaxaca, Bolivia and Chihuahua, Mexico, it is cultivated above 2,000 meters.

 

Sayote plantation along the Halsema Highway. Photo by Art Allad-iw

With the similarities in climate and altitude, sayote survived well in the Cordillera. The altitude explains also why it failed to survive in areas with lower altitude like the Cagayan and Ilocos regions.

The sayote was soon called the “hanging green gold” due to its economic value and resilient character, able to survive tough conditions. The Sagada Postboy said sayote is high-yielding while requiring little input. It is also environment-friendly as it is non-polluting.

Ready food, medicine

In Sagada and the whole of Cordillera, sayote provides ready foods from its uggot (tops) and fruits. Uggot can be prepared easily like the fruits which can be chopped and added to the etag (Igorot ham), with or without chicken.

Surplus sayote is also used as alternative animal feeds. In fact, Dao-as said that Eduardo Masferre used sayote to feed his hogs, poultry and rabbit in Batalao and recycled, on the other hand, the wastes of these animals as fertilizers for his sayote and other plants.

 

Sayote is also a source of cash by farmers in the region. Photo by Art Allad-iw

The sayote root is not much utilized for food by the Cordillerans, unlike Mexico’s indigenous Mayans who also eat the starchy roots – like the fruits and tops – and added it to beans. Sayote was also the staple food of the indigenous Aztecs in Mexico. At present, sayote can be prepared and eaten raw as salad. It may be stuffed and baked and may be prepared mashed, fried or boiled. It can also be used as soup or cream.

Unknown to many, however, the sayote is also a medicinal plant. Its leaves can be made into tea. It can dissolve kidney stones. On the other hand, it is also used to treat hypertension and arteriosclerosis, according to an article on sayote history and lore on the Internet. Northern Dispatch/Posted by Bulatlat

 

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BLISTT to address Baguio’s problems

January 11, 2015 

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

TUBLAY, Benguet — Baguio City’s perennial problems which included shortage of housing for overflowing visitors, water supply shortage, tons of garbage, bumper to bumper traffics, among others, can be addressed through the strategic development of the BLISTT areas.

The BLISTT stands for Baguio City and the nearby Benguet’s towns of La Trinidad, Itogon, Sablan, Tuba and Tublay.


In an interview, Tublay Mayor Ruben Paoad said that the development of the BLISTT areas would help the problems now confronting Baguio City that had manifested during the latest holidays.
The BLISTT development plan has a framework for convergence of development opportunities, cooperation on development-related concerns, serve for resource use sharing and venue to discuss and resolve their (BLISTT) inter-LGU concerns and issues.

Mayor Paoad being interviewed by local media in his Tublay office. Photo Art Allad-iw

Alternative routes to ease traffic
He added that infra-structure projects particularly the development of the alternative routes connecting various municipalities and Baguio City would ease the traffic problems as cars would not necessarily pass throught the city.

Since national roads are well developed, the improvement of these alternative roads is a must for the present situation. He cited the roads from Sablan road to Tublay, Tublay to Itogon, and Itogon to Tuba which would, if developed, ease the heavy traffic in Baguio and La Trinidad as travelers can take these routes directly to their business and concerns.

“They would not contribute to the heavy traffic in the center if they go through these alternative routes,” he added.

In fact even the vegetable produce, like the Baguio beans that are grown in the town, can be bought outside the City and La Trinidad, he explained. The vegetable produce are more expensive in Baguio City than in the outskirts.

Tourism development
In the BLISTT development plan, the promotion of untapped tourist attractions in the Tublay and other towns would help spur the tourism industry. Like the natural and burial caves in Sagada, Mountain Province, those found in the BLISTT towns can be promoted, he said.

Balangagan Cave in Sagada, Mountain Province. Photo by Arthur L. Allad-iw

 Tublay has natural caves with Cathedral spaces and eye-gluing stalagmites and stalactites which can be visited by tourists, particularly those who do not have enough time to visit Sagada, Paoad added. Hotels and inns are viable too in the BLISTT towns which would help in the decongestion of visitors in Baguio and La Trinidad areas.

Paoad likened the BLISTT development to neighbors, who extend help to each other during merry making like canao and other non-merry making situations like in calamities.

There is already a tradition and culture among these Benguet towns t extend help to each other, he explained. The resources of the BLISTT members can be shared with their neighbors like water. The same with problems, like that on garbage, can be solved with the help of members of the BLISTT.

The local executives of the BLISTT area signed in 2012 the memorandum of agreement for the strategic development of the area, where the mayors also formed the BLISTT development council. The Benguet governor, the Regional Development Council, the NEDA, and the DILG CAR are also members of the said council. # nordis.net

Coffee in Cabuyao, above the clouds

Photo by Rocky Ngalob

January 4, 2015 

By ARTHUR L. ALLAD-IW
www.nordis.net

TUBA, Benguet – Cabuyao is on the peak of Mount Santo Tomas with at least 2,256 meters above sea level, a visitor would appreciate the beauty of the environs and experience a walk in the clouds that cover that community in the sky.

And equally satisfying one’s visit would be a visit to the Café in the sky in Cabuyao, Tuba, Benguet. It recently opened its doors and unexpectedly, happy customers kept coming back.


Eleven kilometers from Baguio City proper, it is a 20 minute drive, in the absence of the rush hour traffic at the Campo Sioco – BGH area.

In our recent visit, as we witnessed the come and go of customers, I was pushed to interview people behind the café establishment and found that besides the food and drinks, the place is more frequented because of the uncontested natural beauty of the environs.

“We actually envisioned it earlier to be a small café. But through the partners exchange of ideas, it is now at its present stage,” explained co-owner Sonny Agcolicol, who added that there are five partners, all Baguio boys, in the said entrepreneur.

The café is situated on a strategic place in Cabuyao, which can accommodate a100 customers – 80 inside and 20 on the veranda area.

Aside from the Jack Daniels and Johnny Walker – which Sonny claimed as their drinks when they conceptualized the café, the dishes offered are affordable and cater to the taste of customers of various age.
Rice toppings with vegetables and either chicken, pork or beef are served with prices ranging from PhP 110 to 130. Wine and beers are offered too but the “addicting” Cordillera brew (Arabica coffee) is traditionally offered to help customers overcome or enjoy the cold weather of the area.

Interview with the Cafe co-owners: Sonny (in white) and Roland (in blue). Photo by Bernie Daytec

“In the future, we also plan to open barista for different coffee mixing,” explained Sonny.
It was opened for a “dry run” last December 8, 2014. Hence the staff are still adjusting as they are new on the job. All the staff are locals whom we recruited to work in the café, added Sonny, who apologized that some customers complained of the slow services but it is understandable under the context of newly opened with an amateur new staff.

As an accessory service, they opened four rooms in the café. A room is good for two at PhP 2,200 per room with free breakfast. The rooms were established in case some visitors get stranded and are not able to return to the city.

More attractions
Cabuyao is one of the barangays in the Mount Santo Tomas. In the area, one gets a panoramic glimpse of natural beauties from the distant beaches of the Lingayen Gulf and plains of Pangasinan to La Union, the mountains, forests and cloud formations.

The forest reservation in Mount Santo Tomas is 3,121 hectares declared under Proclamation No. 581 in 1940, makes one appreciate the importance of a conserved forest and the present grave threats that it now faces.

One can appreciate the sunrise from the East that silhouettes the Cordillera mountain ranges and the sunset reflecting from the gulf. Various cloud formations and changing hues of the environment are a sight to behold, never to be replicated but transforming every time with the changing weather and movement of time. “You never see the same scene but it is best when it is clear, and the cloud formations; they change from time to time. Every visit is memorable,” explained Roland Wong, a co-owner and owner of the Luisas Café at Session Road.

Even the lights in the city during night time served as an attraction, he added, as we watched lights of cars in traffic along the Marcos Highway.

Added sights in the area are the relay stations, the nine hectare rain catchment basin by the Baguio Water District, and the twin radar discs.

The twin discs and the vegetable gardens. Photo by Shehanah Grail Medina

Strawberry and vegetable farms
An Ibaloi settlement where most are farmers who plant different vegetables the whole year round. If the mercury drops below 10 degrees centigrade – like in the last days of December 2013 and early days of January 2014, the area may experience frost or andap, as called by locals.

But there is no place called La Presa in the area, as it is fictional setting as popularized by a tele-novela of one TV stations. It is actually the farming village of Cabuyao where they plant strawberries and other vegetables sold to visitors and the nearby Baguio City market.

Picking strawberries at Cabuyao, Santo Tomas. Photo by Rocky Ngalob/Nordis

There are areas of cultural heritage and worth visiting in the area though not advertised much by the local government. The Amliang Cave inside the forest reservation is where the ancestors of the indigenous peoples in the area were believed to have been laid to rest. Historians believed that the ancestors of the local people who perished in the Battle of Tonglo (Tuba) against the Spanish colonialists were buried in the said cave. And this could be the reason that the LGU does not promote it for tourism for any disturbance is sacrilegious and also to prevent vandalism.

How to get there
Café in the sky and the whole Cabuyao area are accessible via the Marcos Highway and Green Valley road. There is not much problem if you have your own ride, the most possible that you would encounter is the heavy traffic near the city.

A jeepney services the area. There is one jeep that regularly serves the area which leaves Cabuyao at 7 AM and returns back at 11 AM. It will have its last trip to the city at 4 PM. The terminal is at the Otek Street area near Rizal Park below Baguio City Hall. The jeepneys plying the Green valley area can extend their services to the visitors in Cabuyao if there are enough passengers. Adjusted fares however are imposed by the drivers association. The same with garage cars, upon arrangement, but with the same adjusted fare as they claim that they do not have back load.

Regardless of the city problems like on transportation, a visit at Cabuyao and the Café in the sky would surely be a memorable lifetime experience. #