Hibiscus in my name

Pardon me for lifting my bench, but one of my happiest moments was receiving a gumamela plant bred and named after me by the University of the Philippines-Los Banos Institute of Plant Industry. It felt like, well, winning in the 2010 elections, except that my prize is not co-terminus with the powers-that-be, but for life. As I received a pot of the Hibiscus rosa-sinensis ‘Domini Torrevillas’ — the hibiscus with resplendent dark orange petals that have a dark red eye zone, with a semi-erect habit and simple, glossy, egg-shaped leaves — at a launching ceremony at the UP Executive House in Diliman, QC, I paraphrased William Wordsworth’s poem on daffodils bringing joy to the heart: “And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the gumamelas.” And I promised the audience that I would grow fields of this hybrid plant in my gardens in Cavite and Gingoog City.

 Such a blessing has been showered on a number of women over the last few years. Given the award posthumously was Betty Go-Belmonte, founding chair of The Philippine STAR. Two awardees who attended the launch of my very own hibiscus were UP Regent Nelia T. Gonzalez and UP President Emerlinda Roman.

A lot has been written about Dr. Roman, the first woman president of the state university. On Dr. Gonzalez, her receiving the Hibiscus Nelia variety was part of a “triple treat,” as around the time she received the plant, she was also honored by the UPLB Alumni Association with a service award and the launching of professorial chairs named in her honor. 

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The man behind the hibiscus-breeding process is Dr. Pablito M. Magdalita, a highly respected scientist who has passionately continued the breeding program begun by Reynold B. Pimentel in 1994 that has generated new and stunning hybrids with unique flower colors and forms. We were told that the hibiscus breeding process has resulted in the production of a distinct hybrid series, each conforming to a particular theme.

Correspondingly, in 1998, the IBP released the Hibiscus Centennial Series collection, which was named after heroines of the 1898 Philippine Revolution. The Millennium series in 2000 paid tribute to women scientists of UPLB who helped advance Philippine agriculture. The Celebrity Series, launched in 2002, was named in honor of women who have made a mark in Philippine cinema. In 2006 until 2008, the Oblation Series was developed to commemorate the UP Centennial and gave recognition “to pioneering and outstanding alumnae who have served the university in extraordinary ways.” My hibiscus is the first series of special tributes for women in media and the arts.

Other owners of specially bred hibiscus include Sen. Loren Legarda, awarded in the Women in Public Service Series; Philippine Red Cross Chair Rosa Rosal, and US Ambassador Kristie Kenney. Senator Legarda, so far, is the first and only politician to get a hibiscus hybrid named after her.

Delighted over the words of praise he hears at the launches of hibiscus plants, Dr. Magdalita is a university researcher and division head of the Fruit and Ornamental Crops Breeding Division of the IPB at UPLB. He has a doctorate in Plant Breeding and Plant Biotechnology from the University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia.

The National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST) named him one of the Outstanding Young Scientists (OSY). He was also awarded Outstanding Senior Researcher by UPLB’s IPB. He has published 14 referred papers in national and international journals, 24 abstracts of oral and poster papers presented in national and international conferences, and has written three protocols on papaya breeding and biotechnology. His work on the hibiscus plant, his colleagues told me, involves hard work, and the results astound and please him no end.

The hibiscus-breeding process continues to be inspired by UP Chancellor Luis Rey I. Velasco, and Dr. Jose E. Hernandez, director, Crop Science Cluster and IPB, UPLB College of Agriculture. Dr. Ayds Adalla actively supported the hybrid-breeding program when she was CA dean.

My thanks for the inspiration and big celebration my husband, Saeed A. Daof, chairman of the Southern Philippines Development Authority, threw for me. He is now a breeder of my hibiscus variety!

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If you’ve noticed, so many of our friends and relatives are leaving us these days. In one month alone, I lost six friends, some of them so suddenly it’s hard to believe they could just go when we were just having chats with them a few days earlier. Like a candle, the wind just blew them over, and we’re left with only thoughts about how good they had been.  

My seventh dead person was my first cousin, my best friend, my confidante and mentor. Her name: Violeta Manzanilla Medina. I called her Manay Tit. Her remains are at the University of Perpetual Help chapel in Las Pinas, to be interred at the North Cemetery, beside the remains of her late husband, Amador, on Tuesday. Keeping watch over her from the time her health slowed down to her quietly slipping away were her children, Ma. Teresa Catapang; Amador Jr., Ma. Victoria Santana, Alan, and Ma. Soledad Romasanta. Her son Ariel, quickly flew in from Boracay where he works for a company’s security force. Two of her children in a previous marriage are Wilhelmina, who is flying over from London, and Ramon.

I was in the grades when Manay Tit lived with my family in a barrio in Gingoog City. She moved to Manila after a while. I didn’t realize what a beauty she was until she paid us a visit when I was in high school already. She was fair-skinned, her hair black and long, her nose really nice, and she had a Coca-cola figure. Men whistled, us girls gawked, as she walked down the street; she was that good-looking.

Since the ’60s, when I began working in Manila, we saw each other often. She was eight years my senior, so she taught me a lot of things. I noticed how she took care of her kids, scrubbed them clean, laundered their clothes, walked them to school, made sure they ate the delicious meals she prepared. She took care of her husband, too.

Slowly, she gained weight, but she was still pretty. She taught me to dance the boogie-woogie and cha-cha, but did not succeed in making me learn to do the samba and mambo. She scrutinized the boys I brought to her home; playboy, she said of one; maswerte ka, he said of another who was rich; she taught me to mend a broken heart. When I married for the first time, she said, okay, and on my second marriage, she said the same thing. She cooked guisadong sotanghon and menudo when I gave parties.

Her husband passed away I think eight years ago. But that was after they had finally exchanged vows before a priest — after living in for more than 20 years.

She was always smiling, although I knew she ran out of money sometimes. She always had encouraging words for me, and every Christmas for the last 30 years or so, she brought me a bag of green mangoes and bagoong, and I gave her queso de bola and an envelope.

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I miss Manay Tit so much.

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My e-mail:[email protected]