Tabon-tabon, an Exotic Southern Philippine Fruit

                      

The tabon-tabon which is scientifically named atuna racemosa is a native tree of Northern Mindanao in Southern Philippines. It also grows in Papua, New Guinea, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and other tropical Asian countries as well as in the Pacific islands.

Some people consider the tabon-tabon a nut because it has a hard outer shell with a single seed that does not split or open to release the seeds to the world. The difference between tabon-tabon with other nuts is that its kernel is juicy.

Tabon-tabon tree has elliptical leaves and can grow from 8 to 10 meters tall and bears fruit all year long. The brown ovate-shaped fruit has a hard shell. Inside the shell is a single large seed. When cut vertically in half, the fruit bares a cross section of a seed that resembles a brain. The fruit must be used within 10 days after harvest because it hardens after several days.

The seed of tabon-tabon is not usually eaten. It is mainly used as an ingredient of raw fish dish called in the local dialect as kinilaw. The seed is scraped off with a spoon and then the bits are squeezed to extract off their sap to mix with vinegar and other ingredients. The sap of tabon-tabon removes the “fishy” smell of the fish and neutralizes the acidity of the vinegar. Without the sap, the vinegar will change the texture of the fish meat. The vinegar will sort of “cook” the fish and toughens it. Because of it, tabon-tabon is an essential ingredient in kinilaw prepared Northern Mindanao style.

Many people in the coastal areas of Northen Mindanao love to eat kinilaw and tabon-tabon is always associated with the dish. Tabon-tabon along with tuba or coconut toddy, suwa or native lime, wild native chili peppers or siling labuyo make the taste of the dish distinctive from those that are prepared from other parts of the Philippines. One fruit is enough for one kilo of kinilaw. The anti-bacterial properties of the tabon-tabon extract not only make the dish desirable but also keep it safe to eat.

A study at Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro has found out that the fruit has anti-bacterial properties. This is probably the reason why over a long time there have been no reported health issues or food poisoning related with the consumption of raw fish added with tabon-tabon sap. Another reason is that only fresh fish is used in the preparation of kinilaw.

Aside from its culinary use in the locality, there are no other reported applications of tabon-tabon such as herbal medicine. In other places in the Pacific the seed of the fruit is made as putty for sealing canoes, as wood glues, and as basket water proofing.

 

Kaffir Lime (Suwa)

kaffir lime is a shrub that belongs to the citrus family. It is called suwa in Northern Mindanao, Philippines. The plant can grow up to about 4 meters tall and is easily distinguishable from other citrus plants because of its distinctive “double leaf” look of leaves. Like some citrus shrubs, it has no trunk in the base but stems and branches that have sharp spines.

Suwa has leaves with pleasant limy aroma and small white flowers. Its fruit is excessively sour even when fully ripe. It is ovate in shape with thick skin. Inside it is pulpy juice-containing segments. Because of its sourness, suwa is not commonly consumed by people as a table fruit but as ingredient and flavor for dish especially kinilaw, the Filipino version of the Mexican ceviche. Cebuano speaking people of Northern Mindanao such as those in Cagayan de Oro are fond of eating kinilaw, a fresh fish-based dish. Kinilaw is not complete without the indigenous ingredients of suwa, tabon-tabon, siling labuyo (bird’s eye chili pepper), tuba (coconut bud sap) and vinegar. Other ingredients can be optional depending on the taste or likings of the one who prepares it as well as those who consume it. A squeeze of suwa juice is also best to flavor a Filipino condiment called bago-ong which is made from a brine fermented fish.  

Because of its limited applications, suwa is not grown in commercial scale, but are just mostly grown in the backyard where it can be a decorative or fruit bearing shrub. A single plant of the ever-fruitful Suwa can provide the house owner enough fruits for his needs all year round.

Laguindingan International Airport Has Opened for Business

The largest and the first ever in Northern Mindanao, the Laguindingan International Airport has officially opened on June 15, 2013. The event is a milestone in the history of Northern Mindanao and the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan. Personnel of the old Lumbia airport move its equipment and facilities to the new airport which will serve the airline passengers of the region. Lumbia airport is turned over to the Philippine Air Force which will use it for its flight operations.   

                                                                                                                             

A flagship project of the Cagayan de Oro-Iligan Corridor Development Project (CIC), the new airport was conceptualized in 1991 during the term of the late President Corazon C. Aquino. The CIC was envisioned to develop a growth area in Northern Mindanao with the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan as hubs of economic activities. The plan for the airport was started during the term of President Fidel V. Ramos. On January 10, 2006, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo led the ground breaking ceremony for the start of its construction.

The newly finished airport sits in 4.17 square kilometers of land at Barangay Moog, Laguindingan, Misamis Oriental. It has a 2.1-kilometer long and 45-meter wide runway. A 4.4-kilometer, four-lane access road connects the new airport to the Laguindingan national highway. It is 46 kilometers from Cagayan de Oro and 61.9 kilometers from Iligan. The airport is equipped with the most modern facilities. However, for the meantime, the airport will operate under the Visual Flight Rule (VFR) because the Instrument Landing System (ILS) which will enable the pilots to land plane at night and in poor visibility is yet to be installed. 

                                                                                                                                                                       

The construction was undertaken by Yooshin Engineering of Korea, Schema Konsult Inc. of Ortigas Center, Pasig and Hanjin Heavy Industries and Construction Company, the general contractor of the project. Cost of the airport which was funded by the Philippine government and foreign loans was 167.09 million US dollars or 7.853 billion Philippine pesos.    

On April 18, 2013, the Department of Communications and Transportation (DOTC) announced that the opening would be postponed to June 15 instead of April 30, 2013 because the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP) received request from airline companies to postpone the transfer after the summer peak season because the April 30 opening would require cancellation of several booked flight tickets.

Business groups from Cagayan de Oro such as the Cagayan de Oro Chamber of Commerce Foundation Incorporated voiced their concern and opposition to the “premature” opening of the airport citing safety reasons since the new airport has yet to install the ILS which means that the airport could operate only during day time. They also added that the lack of night flights could mean losses in billions of pesos. But aviation authorities said that the problem can be dealt with by increasing the number of flights during the day. And that the airport can operate safely without the ILS. The Mactan International Airport in Cebu operated without ILS for 3 years.

CAAP Director General William Hotchkiss and Secretary of DOTC Joseph Emilio Abaya assured the public that the airport is safe for the aircraft and passengers. They added that the Laguindingan Airport is safer than  Lumbia Airport because of the ideal ground elevation of the former. They said that Lumbia is difficult to land during extreme weather because it is on a mountainous ground with an elevation of 183 meters or 601 feet while Laguindingan is situated at a coastal area with an elevation of only 190 feet above sea level which makes it easier for a pilot to land a plane even in an unfavorable weather condition.    

                                                                                                                             

President Benigno Aquino III inspected and inaugurated the airport on June 11, 2013. He was met by notable personalities such as Governor Oscar Moreno, the newly elected mayor of Cagayan de Oro City, Archbishop Antonio Ledesma and Manila-based business Tycoon Jaime Zobel de Ayala. With the president were DILG Secretary Manuel Roxas III, DOTC secretary Jose Abaya and other presidential staff. The landing of the presidential plane at the airport’s runway is a tacit assurance from the president himself that the airport is indeed safe for airline passengers.

Remaining navigational aid equipment is expected to be installed within this year and that by early 2014 the airport will be capable of accommodating bigger planes for international flights such as an airbus with a seating capacity of 300 passengers. The volume of traffic in 2012 in Lumbia airport is about 1.4 million of passengers. The new airport at Laguindingan has a terminal that can accommodate 1.6 million of passengers annually. Another terminal will be constructed to accommodate the influx of more passengers in the future. The Laguindingan International Airport will surely boost tourism and economic activities of Northern Mindanao with the city of Cagayan de Oro having the lion’s share of the economic windfall that comes with the opening of the new international standard airport.