There was a hushed atmosphere inside Asian Spirit flight
from Jolo as it taxied to a halt on the Zamboanga City
airport. The backdoor opened and one
ground staff found his way to the luggage section.
“Ang daming
mangosteen! (So much mangosteen!),” he shouted with glee as it sent
passengers and crew hollering in delight.
“Mangosteen, mangosteen…andaming
mangosteen…” the staff sang to a tune he probably just composed that moment
as he carried bunches of the prized fruit down to the carts. The ditty sort of gave some of us passengers a
last-song-syndrome long after we deplaned.
The vendors on the sidewalks of downtown Jolo were
apologetic they had to give it to us at p55 per big bunch of four smaller bunches
even at peak season (usual peak season price p5/kg). They said the provincial government of Sulu
bought a C-130 loadful of mangosteen to be sent to Manila for display and sale at big department
stores thus reducing the local supply.
We were just as happy it was way below the p40-50 per small bunch
anywhere else.
Luck would have it that with five of us in the team, our
tickets covered for all our 70 or so kilos of fruits.
Who would want to carry such a heavy and cumbersome load
from this paradise island all the way to mainland Mindanao
in September? Bangkal in Patikul would
find you stepping on robust mangosteen seedlings that would rival any nursery
if marketed as planting materials. Forgive
my hyperbole but when I went to Panamao in July, I also found out that Sulu is a
forest of fruit trees, like one tree growing over the other, an awe-inspiring
mix of lanzones, durian, mangoes, bauno, coffee, and of course, mangosteen --
absolutely no hybrid varieties that’s why disease is still unheard of.
Mangosteen (Garcinia
mangostana) can now be found and sold in many parts of Mindanao;
but what makes Sulu mangosteen special is its natural state owing largely to the
rich volcanic soil of Bud Dajo and Bud Tumatangis; and typhoon-free climate. I was told that fruiting seasons rotate around
geographical locations in the island. Hybrid
(ergo non-Sulu) varieties, commercial fertilizers, pesticides and flowering
hormones would be the biggest insult to this god-given bounty.
Guarding the fruits seemingly with our lives (Isa her
lanzones both from Sulu and Basilan where we went a couple of days earlier; and
me my mangosteen from Sulu), we take souvenir pictures in the baggage claim
area of Zambo airport before we go separate ways. I told Isa that yes, what stimulates my
interest more would be how to weave the coconut leaf baskets the Basilan lanzones
came with. It is packaging in its
indigenous and excellent form the local government should find a good marketing
and ecotourism potential in it).
At home in Cotabato
City, the mangosteen seeds
found their way to the freezer. It would
give my family 5-star gourmet coolers daily for the next month. Sun dried, the shells would give us and
infinite supply of refreshing tea.
With that, who would be swayed with all the sales talk of factory
processed mangosteen products when I can get the much needed anti-aging
phytochemicals straight from the fresh fruits?
I mean, the only reason why mangosteen producers resort to processing
their fruits into juices, capsules, soaps and what have you is that there’s not
much innovative marketing strategies for the fruits itself.
Wait: weren’t the
mangosteen from Sulu brought to Manila
by C-130 planes? This is a step towards
the innovative marketing strategies -- government taking the initiative.
Meantime, the airport guy’s ditty would playback in my mind:
“Mangosteen, mangosteen…ang daming
mangosteen…”
*****
Aveen Acuña-Gulo wrote
an editorial column “The Voice” for the Mindanao
Cross from 1991-2006. She is not stating
full names of people and institutions to protect their identities. “Don’t worry about my opinions,” she says. “It won’t make a dent to the conventional.”
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