BONTOC. Better late than never!
That is the gist of the legislative enactment of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan finally adopting Mountain Lily as the provincial flower of the province.
Provincial Ordinance No. 349 entitled: An Ordinance Declaring the Mountain Lily as the Provincial Flower of Mountain Province, and dated October 29, 2019 recognizes as among the duties as stipulated under the Local Government Code of 1991 that in the process of building a cultural tradition, each province should adopt, among others a Provincial Flower.
The Tue tree, which is also being used in the provincial logo, was earlier adopted as Provincial Tree by virtue of Provincial Ordinance No. 35, s. 2003 during the time of then Vice Governor Anthony Wooden.
Both are institutionalized as part of the Provincial Logo.
In the researches of Teodora Balangcod, Virginia Cuevas and Ashlyn Kim Balangcod, Jones Napaldet, Araceli Ladilad and Alma Amado, Mountain Lily is known with the scientific name as Lilium Philippinense and known locally as the Toptopkaw/tuktukpao or Us-usdong.
It is endemic to the Cordillera range of the Philippines and grows on the steep mountain slopes of Benguet and the southwestern part of Mountain Province.
The flower is pure white in lilies under shade but if sun exposed, the lilies have purple tinge along the mid-vein of the tepals.
The stem is described to be 1-2 feet high but could reach up to 200 centimeters particularly in the cultivated plants.
The roots are two types of roots-contractile and adventitious, under the bulb which pulls the plant deeper into the soil and are at the base of the stem that is usually few inches under the soil.
The Ordinance mandates the MP Environment and Natural Resources Office (MPENRO) to propagate the provincial flower with the provision of funding by the provincial government.
The municipal mayors are also requested to cooperate and support the promotion of this cultural program or tradition by appropriating financial and budgetary support to the production, propagation, protection, and the development of its tourism and economic values.
The Provincial Tourism Office and the Provincial Council for Culture and Arts are also mandated to conduct Information and Education Campaigns to the public and to cause the inclusion of the provincial flower in the curriculum of instruction in educational institutions in the province.
The Mountain Lily has been used in the provincial logo even without the official enactment by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
In an interview with Board Member Donato Danglose, author of the Ordinance, he said that there is no truth in the misinformation that the flower is different from the replica indicated in the provincial logo.
“This Ordinance gives credence and official recognition to the use of the Mountain Lily in the Provincial Logo”, he said.
By Roger Sacyaten
