3. SHADY TREE CREATED FOUR TOWNS

SHADY TREE CREATED FOUR TOWNS

Dr. Troy Alexander G. Miano

17 November 2016 

Before I knew it, I was again swooping the Maharlika Highway of Cagayan Valley heading for the metropolis to comply with an office order from the Provincial Administrator’s Office instructing me to grace a seminar-workshop on ecotourism product development to be held in Talisay town in Batangas province in Calabarzon region.

The name Talisay reminds me of my Rizal subject during my teaching days at the University of La Salette in Santiago City and at the Isabela State University Cauayan City Campus. It was in Barrio Talisay in Dapitan town Zamboanga del Norte where our national hero spent his exile years before he braved the firing squad in Bagumbayan. Dr. Jose P. Rizal constructed his home of four years (1892-1896), school, farm and hospital in Talisay which until now is a barangay of the City of Dapitan.

A poem entitled Himno a Talisay (Hymn to Talisay) was written by Rizal in Dapitan in 1895. Under a shady Talisay tree, after which the place was named, was the Laguneño’s favorite meeting place with his students mostly boys. He made them sing the poem; however, the Spaniards finds the lyrics subversive and this very same poem was used by his opponents against him during his trial in Intramuros. The poem speaks of hope for tomorrow, despite of the late education. The children believe that despite being children, they will be their family’s guardian by means of education.

Searching Google, four Local Government Units (LGUs) were named after the talisay tree (Terminalia catappa L.) also called the "Indian almond", "tropical almond" or "sea almond". It is a deciduous shady tree often grown in the Philippines for ornamental purposes. Two of the four became cities; the City of Talisay in Cebu province and Talisay City in Negros Occidental. The two other Talisay towns are located in Camarines Norte and in Batangas where my seminar is located. 

Talisay trees can be found in all parts of the country and the abundance of the species in some areas prompted the natives to refer to their locality as “Talisay”. Like some of the other LGUs in the archipelago, abundance of a certain natural resource gives moniker to a settlement or locality. In Isabela province, four LGUs were christened after the name of trees. The town of San Manuel, created as a municipal district of Gamu in 1937, was once called Callang, a Kalingan word for the molave (Vitex parviflora) tree. Luna town, created as a municipal district of Cauayan in 1928, was formerly named Antatet which derived its name from a sturdy tree called anteng while the old town of Echague formerly known as Camarag was derived from the name of a species of big trees that grew profusely in the locality. The City of Santiago, founded in 1743, was once called Carig which means “a straight high tree” referring to a tree specie which abounded the area.

Trees like the talisay gives us not only shade for picnic and recreations or school in the case of Rizal, not only lumber or furniture and souvenirs for fallen species but also basis for naming settlements like the four LGUs named Talisay located in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao.