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| Pampanga: Land of Sampaguitas and Ilang-ilang |
Pampanga: Land of the Sampaguita and Ilang-ilang
from the Philippine Daily Inquirer by Tonette Orejas
FLOWERS BRING GOOD LIFE TO KAPAMPANGAN FARMERS
from the Philippine Daily Inquirer
WHAT flowers are draped on dignitaries, placed
on statues of saints or home altars, taken home
as tokens to loved ones, adorned on buses and cars,
and grown in many Philippine gardens?
For their beauty and scent, the sampaguita, the
Philippines' national flower, and the ilang-ilang
are the top picks both for special occasions and
for everyday life.
And most of the tiny white sampaguita buds and
the yellow green ilang-ilang curls that are stringed
into leis and delivered to Metro Manila come from
Guagua, Lubao and Floridablanca towns in Pampanga.
In these neighboring western Pampanga towns, the
sampaguita and ilang-ilang are not only the flowers of
May and just garden plants. Reared year-round, the
flowers have also steadily become an alternate source
of cash to local farmers.
The shrubs and the trees grow well on sandy loam. They
are nurtured by the moisture of monsoons and by the
Kapampangan farmers.
Under grinding poverty, the farmers find the flowers a
crux to their survival.
There are 325 sampaguita growers, who are also rice
planters, in the villages of San Roque Dau, San Francisco
and Santo Domingo, according to Maria David, Lubao
agriculturist.
More than 300 growers are in Guagua and Floridablanca.
The flowers bloom abundantly from March to June and bring
a normal bounty between July and October. The sampaguita
shrubs and ilang-ilang trees produce lean but high-priced
volumes from November to February.
''Queni, dakal na ing minasenso queng bie uling kareng
sampagang deni (Here, many have improved their lives
because of these flowers),'' said Pedro Augusto, 71,
of San Roque Dau.
Agriculturists said Augusto was one of the pioneers in
the commercial growing of sampaguita in Lubao. He goes
as far as Nueva Ecija to be a resource-person in seminars
on sampaguita and ilang-ilang growing.
''Children have been educated, families have been fed,
homes have been built and people have lived simple
lifestyle from the income derived from the flowers,''
Augusto said.
Even when the Pampanga Sugar Mill in Lubao closed in
the late 1990s, the flowers provided an easy fallback
for displaced workers like him, an electrician, he said.
Young people can earn, too.
On a Saturday, under the shade of an ilang-ilang tree,
Angelica Bacani and her brother Arlie are making leis,
carefully stringing the flowers in abaca threads.
From 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., they make 500 leis, all bought
at P100 or P20 for every 100. They split the earning
equally, intending to use their savings to buy the
school supplies they need when classes open in June.
And because tending the plants is not at all laborious,
even old folk can earn, Augusto said.
Augusto takes pride in being able to water and trim the
plants despite his age and a stroke he suffered in 1998.
Ligaya de Dios, 60, strings the buds fast like 7-year-old
Ramona Bacani.
''I miya paglibe ing sampaguita ampong ing ilang-ilang
queng pale (We won't exchange these for palay,'' said
Rudencio Villeza and his wife Liza, of Santo Domingo,
just near San Roque Dau.
The couple has 600 sampaguita shrubs and 15 ilang-ilang
trees in their 1,000-square-meter lot, all planted in 1988
when Rudencio stopped working abroad. They also have a
half-hectare plot planted to rice.
''It takes four months and a lot of problems before income
is derived from planting rice,'' said Rudencio.
In between cropping and harvest time, the Villezas rely on
the flowers to bring in the cash for the family's daily
needs.
A can of sampaguita could fetch P10. A bundle of 100
ilang-ilang flowers costs P10. Easily, the couple and
their two young children earn P200 after just two hours
of picking.
The flowers commands a low of P100 or a high of P200 for
a liter or for a bundle during lean months when supplies
are low.
Beginnings
The sampaguita shrubs and ilang-ilang trees dotted the
gardens of Lubao's homes but in ''negligible numbers''
then, Augusto said, recalling the rural scene when he
was 10.
In the 1960s, sampaguita was grown for garlands only in
Barangay San Juan in Guagua, he recalled. Ilang-ilang,
while abundant in Apalit, was not for sale, its blooms
were offered in religious rites, he said.
A flood in 1964 destroyed most of the shrubs in Guagua.
By then, Ricardo Lalic, one of the pioneers, wanted to
replicate the same luck that his uncle, David Lalic of
Tondo, Manila, had. David tended 100 shrubs and was
making a fortune from selling the buds to garland-makers.
Ricardo took the shrubs that survived the flood in Guagua
and replanted these in 1965 in San Roque Dau. Seeing
Ricardo succeed, six other men like Augusto and Agustin
Bayani followed.
News of their success spread by mouth. In time, many
vacant lots in backyards and farms were grown with
the shrubs.
A family-based enterprise evolved in the town. In
between farm work, the husband became the planter,
the wife and the children, the pickers and the
garland-makers.
In the mornings, as early as 6, the husband waters
the shrubs, while the wife and children do the reaping.
The rest of the day sees most women and children
stringing the flowers into leis.
From among the folk emerged the viajeras like Beng
Narciso who delivers the fresh flowers or the finished
garlands daily to buyers in Tondo, Caloocan or to
Malabon in Metro Manila.
Others became village-based runners for traders or
flower shop owners looking for supplies.
The planting of ilang-ilang became in vogue only in
the 1980s when the government toyed with the idea of
extracting oil from the flower as a perfume base.
Until now, however, there is not one extractor in the
town although the trees are all over Lubao. Ilang-Ilang
continues to be a garland accessory to the sampaguita,
like they were inseparable, beautiful twins.
Profits, problems
From 800 shrubs, fully grown in three years, Augusto
said, a family could earn an average net profit of
P6,000 monthly. Because the shrubs have a life span
of 20 years if regularly trimmed and protected with a
minimum amount of insecticides, he said income could
still come even when the children are past their teens
or have finished schooling.
The family-based business also has its share of woes,
according to Augusto.
''Traders still dictate the price even when they are
not the ones who own the land and who work the farm,''
he lamented.
The traders' grip on the business has increasingly
grown because many have begun funding the cost of
inputs and are thus able to corner the supply for
a price below the prevailing rate.
A small quantity of the Karate insecticide and the
14-14-14 and Albatros fertilizers cost nearly
P1,200 altogether, he said.
At the request of Augusto, Lubao Mayor Lilia Pineda
helped curtail the usurious practice of traders by
providing loan support for seedlings and inputs to
sampaguita growers starting 1995.
The Federation of Lubao Sampaguita Growers Association
has sustained the project.
In the last five years, Tatang Pedring said white bugs
have been increasingly pestering the shrubs and the
trees, prompting the growers to be always on their toes
to prune the destroyed parts.
Since the sampaguita and the ilang-ilang are confined
to their traditional use as leis, corsage or wreath,
nearly 60 percent of the daily picks are wasted on
peak months.
''If we have the technology for extraction, nothing
would go to waste and we could earn more,'' Augusto
said, expressing regret over the flowers that wilted
and which could have produced local oil for perfume,
soap or medicine.
The Department of Science and Technology this month
began an extractor pilot project in Guagua.
Augusto said the federation was observing how the new
device would help improve the income of growers in the
neighboring town.
''That device would also elevate the stature of the
flowers that have given us better times in almost
four decades,'' he said.
(The above news item from the Philippine Daily Inquirer
was e-mailed by Jess Puno of Lubao, Pampanga, himself a
sampaguita grower who even sent me some cuttings for me
to plant here in the U.S. years ago but which died after
four months due to the cold weather.)
Webmaster: Oscar Soriano
Here is another article on the ilang-ilang:
The History of Ylang Ylang Perfumery and Aromatherapy
The Ylang Ylang oil industry of the world had
its origin in the Philippines. F. Steck (1858 - 1880),
owner of a pharmacy known as Botica Boie first
produced Ylang Ylang oil on a commerical scale
in the country. By the start of the twentieth
century, the Manila Ylang Ylang oil was considered
as the finest of all types of Ylang Ylang oil
in the world. Before 1900, Manila held practically
the world monopoly of Ylang Ylang oil. Extensive
Ylang Ylang groves along Manila were established
with the construction of modern stills from Germany.
The Manila oil gained international recognition
before it was slowly forced off the world market.
Various confluent factors that contributed to the
demise of the Ylang Ylang oil industry in the
Philippines include:
1. The entry of the United States into World War I,
giving the German nationals, who pioneered in the
commerical distillation of Ylang Ylang oil,
difficulty in exporting their products.
2. The establishment of Ylang Ylang plantations in
the Reunion Island, Madagascar, and the Comoro Island,
providing stiff competition in the world market.
3. The dismantling of distilleries together with the
cutting down of Ylang Ylang trees near Manila as a
consequence of World War II.
Current commercial production of Ylang Ylang in the
Philippines is mainly concentrated in the provinces of
Pampanga and Tarlac. A total of over 14,000 trees is
cultivated in the towns of Lubao, Floridablanca and
Guagua in Pampanga. The Ylang Ylang flowers originally
intended for the garland market but growers are already
keen on extracting essential oil particularly during
peak months of production. The municipality of Anao,
Tarlac initiated mass production of Ylang Ylang way back
in 1991 for the purpose of essential oil extraction.
Although about 20,000 trees have been planted and are
already flowering, Ylang Ylang oil production in Anao
is still minimal due to problems with the extraction
unit. The Palawan have also embarked on Ylang Ylang
production for extraction of oil. It is estimated
that about 5,300 trees have been established in these
areas.
(Note: A good friend of mine, Zacarias R., met his
wife while she was peddling sampaguita garlands in
her barrio in Gandara, Guagua, Pampanga. He even
wrote and article about it in a local magazine.)
Visit my other webpage:
http://maxpages.com/tarlac
The Tagalog-Kapampangan Alliance
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