DAVAO-BASED flower and orchid growers have backed Senate Bill 2092, which seeks to declare Waling-Waling or Vanda Sanderiana as the country’s national orchid. The bill was recently been approved on third and final reading in the Senate.
“Dapat lang, because it is endemic to Mindanao, it’s really ours,” said Vicky Jimenez, former president of the Mindanao Garden Club Inc. and a prime mover of the Davao floriculture industry, of the Senate bill authored by Senator Loren Legarda.
Renowned for its beauty, the Waling-waling flower, with its distinctive pink-shaded petals with brown and dark blotches and spots, is known as the “Queen of Philippine Flowers.” The world came to learn about the orchid when, in 1880, German botanist Carl Robelin found it in the forests of Mt. Apo. The orchid derives its name from the local term “waling-waling,” used in parts of Mindanao, particularly in Davao, Cotabato, and Zamboanga.
Jimenez said the floriculture industry of Davao, led by its pillars like Charita Puentespina, has long lobbied for Waling-Waling to be declared the national flower. A previous bill to declare Waling-Waling as the national flower alongside Sampaguita was vetoed in 2013 by then President Benigno Aquino III.
In his veto message, President Aquino stated that declaring a second national flower would create confusion among the public and that there are other means to promote and protect the Waling-Waling without declaring it as a second national flower. The move, he said, could diminish the status of the sampaguita as the country’s national flower. The sampaguita is believed to have originated in India.
Senator Legarda’s bill provides a clearer designation without displacing the Sampaguita as a National Flower. The bill also seeks to strengthen the protection of the Waling-Waling as part of the country’s commitment to biodiversity conservation.
Once abundant in the forests of Mindanao, the Waling-Waling has been overcollected, while its natural habitat has been degraded by logging and land conversion.
“Marami pa namang Waling-Waling; hindi siya nawala,” Jimenez said. They still exist in private gardens of growers. She said it is now rarely found in the wild.
She said the declaration of Waling-Waling as a National Orchid will boost the country’s orchid industry and strengthen the protection of the flower.
Other countries have benefited from the illegal collection of Waling-Waling from Philippine forests, with foreign laboratories developing commercial hybrids from its tissue samples.
International breeders have long prized Waling-Waling as a parent plant for creating commercial hybrids.
Over 1,000 commercial orchid hybrids have been created from Waling-Waling.
“Yung mga ibang bansa sila ang unang nakinabang sa Waling-Waling galing sa forest kasi di natin nabantayan,” she said.
(Other countries first benefited from the Waling Waling from our forest because we failed to guard it.)
The Davao City Government has taken steps to protect Waling-Waling, which is considered one of the city’s icons. Among its programs, together with the private sector, is reviving the production and protection of the orchid by establishing a botanical garden and promoting tissue culture.
Early this year, Malagos Garden Resort opened its Waling-Waling Park. The resort, owned by orchid grower and advocate Charita Puentespina, aims to plant 10,000 Waling-Waling orchids by 2030.
Meanwhile, Davao City aims to revitalize the interest in the orchid during this year’s Kadayawan Festival.
Two Davao City government-supported floriculture exhibits will feature the Waling-Waling during this year’s Kadayawan Festival. The Kadayawan Plant Show, organized by the Floriculture Industry of Davao, will run from August 7 to 23 at the Davao City Coastal Road Times Beach open space, while the Kadayawan Agri Trade Fair, organized by the Mindanao Garden Club, will be held from August 12 to 31 at SM City Davao. The exhibits will showcase Waling-Waling orchids from local growers, giving Dabawenyos a chance to see the Queen of Philippine Flowers up close. PIA DAVAO
