‘SYMBOL OF PHL IDENTITY’: City gov’t urged to plant more prickly narra trees

By John Noel Herrera 

The Iloilo City Government was urged to plant more prickly narra as it is identified as the real national tree of the country among its many species.

In a privilege speech delivered during their session on Wednesday, June 14, 2023, Councilor Rex Sarabia said that the Central Philippine University (CPU) Alumni Association and the Integrated Bar of the Philippines-Iloilo Chapter wanted to address the debate on which narra variety is the national tree “as it is both a matter of national and environmental concerns.”

Sarabia noted that based on the inventory by the two organizations, it has been revealed that only a “few matured prickly narra are growing in our plazas, the rest are smooth narra.”

“By random ratio, we can say that there is only one prickly narra for every 20 smooth narras that grow throughout the city. We must correct this imbalance by urging everyone to plant more prickly narra trees within the next seven years,” the councilor said.

In the 70s, botanist Justo P. Rojo recognized two varieties of the narra (Pterocarpus indicus Willd.) species: smooth narra (forma indicus) and prickly narra (forma echinatus). The former bears smooth pods while the pods of the latter have pricks or thorns on the central outer part, thus its “prickly” name.

Aside from the prickly narra tree, another matter of national identity that the CPUAA and IBP-Iloilo also wanted to address is the identification of the real national flower, which should be the single-petal sampaguita, and not the double-petal variety.

Sarabia cited Proclamation Order 652 series 1934 of Governor General Frank Murphy, declaring narra and sampaguita as the national tree and flower of the Philippines, respectively.

He said that the organizations have already made a pilot nursery devoted to the propagation of prickly narra and single sampaguita in the city.

“To clarify, the national tree is colloquially known as the prickly narra, not the smooth narra. The sampaguita is known to be the single sampaguita and not the double sampaguita. This matter is relevant because the CPU Alumni Association, together with IBP-Iloilo made a pilot nursery devoted to the propagation of prickly narra and single sampaguita,” Sarabia said.

“This privileged speech is a call to action, urging the city government to adhere to the national identity and to emphasize that the single sampaguita and prickly narra are our national flower and tree, respectively,” he added.