RC Angeles Kuliat leads rare vine propagation

ANGELES CITY -- The Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat has committed to undertake the preservation and propagation of Kuliat, a rare vine found in Angeles City (Kuliat before) when it was discovered in 1796 by Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda.

This is part of the club's environmental conservation efforts.

During the first of two events held at the Museo Ning Angeles on Tuesday, the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat turned over to the Kuliat Foundation Inc. an encased Kuliat cut out for display at the museum.

The glass-encased cut out, which was received by Kuliat Foundation officials led by its President Lincoln Baluyut, was supposed to have been presented to the Museo Ning Angeles 22 years ago during the term of Rotary Past President Dan Basilio.

The cutout came from Kuliat vines that were recovered by the Rotary Club of

Angeles Kuliat in the Zambales mountain range in 2000.

The vines were recovered during an expedition led by Past President Gray Timbol who, along with several other Rotarians and Aeta tribesmen, set out to find the endangered plant species as part of the club’s advocacy.

The turnover was followed by the signing of the Memorandum of Agreement with officials of

Abacan River and Angeles Watershed Advocacy Council, Inc. (ARAW-ACI) led by its vice president, Alfonso "Sonny" Dobles Jr.

The agreement signing is in line with the efforts of the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat to help preserve the environment through our reforestation efforts in Sapang Bato.

“What binds all of us today is the Kuliat vine, which has a special meaning to us Angeleños because it is the main symbol of our beloved city,” Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat President Leigh Jocson said.

She recalled that it was the Kuliat vine that greeted Don Angel Pantaleon de Miranda, then the gobernadorcillo of San Fernando, when he led his wife, Doña Rosalia de Jesus, and several followers in venturing northwards to establish a new settlement in 1796.

The group came across a woodland located 16 kilometers from San Fernando and decided to settle there. They cleared the land for sugarcane and rice cultivation and aptly named their new settlement Kuliat, which became a barrio of San Fernando until it became a separate municipality of Pampanga 33 years later. “Today, we all know it to be Angeles City— a bustling urban center bereft of the kuliat vine that it was named after,” Jocson said.

“Today, the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat would once again want to take the initiative in bringing the Kuliat vine back to Angeles and we will do it not just with the cut out that we are turning over to the Museo but to propagate it with the help of ARAW ACI and other stakeholders so that it would no longer be just a museum display that would remind us of our heritage as Angeleños,” Jocson added.

According to her, ARAW-ACI and the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat will work with the Aeta community in propagating and planting Kuliat vines aside from the bamboo in reforestation sites in Sapang Bato.

Jocson said these will help protect Angeles’ vital watersheds.

“We at the Rotary Club of Angeles Kuliat are looking forward to this initiative that we all know would succeed with the support of everyone. We all hope that you would join us in this effort to preserve not just our heritage but also our environment” Jocson said.