A BIKOLANO SAVES GEN MACARTHUR - SGT. DOMINGO ADVERSARIO

Sgt. Domingo Adversario, a native of Camaligan in this province, was orderly to General Douglas Mac Arthur. While at Corregidor (where Mc Arthur and his family sought refuge), the area they were resting on was suddenly attacked by the Japanese forces. William Manchester, author of American Caesar, a biography of Gen mac Arthur writes, A direct hit exploded in to the cottage s bedroom, shattering the building. Another bomb, much closer to him (Mac Arthur), scattered shrapnel in every direction. The General ducked behind the hedge while his orderly Sgt. Domingo Adversario removed his own steel helmet placed it over Mac Arthur s head. A fragment from one stick of bombs dented the helmet; a steel splinter from another laid Adversario s hand open. As the Mitsubishis roared off, Jean (Mac Arthur s wife) arrived on the run, found herhusband dressing the orderly s hand with his handkerchief.

THE PILI NUT

The Pili Nut (Canarium Ovatum)

One of 600 species in the family Burseraceae, is native to the Philippines and is abundant and wild in the Bicol Region particularly in Sorsogon, and in parts of Visayas and Mindanao. Trees of Canarium ovatum are attractive symmetrically shaped evergreens, averaging 20 m tall with resinous wood and resistance to strong wind. C. ovatum is dioecious, with flowers borne on cymose inflorescence at the leaf axils of young shoots. As in papaya and rambutan, functionalhermaphrodites exist in pili. Pollination is by insects. Flowering of pili is frequent and fruits ripen through a prolonged period of time. The ovary contains three locules, each with two ovules, most of the time only one ovule develops (Chandler 1958).  Pili fruit is a drupe, 4 to 7 cm long, 2.3 to 3.8 cm in diameter, and weighs 15.7 to 45.7 g. The skin (exocarp) is smooth, thin, shiny, and turns purplish black when the fruit ripens; the pulp (mesocarp) is fibrous, fleshy, and greenish yellow in color, and the hard shell (endocarp) within protects a normallydicotyledonous embryo. The basal end of the shell (endocarp) is pointed and the apical end is more or less blunt; between the seed and the hard shell (endocarp) is a thin, brownish, fibrous seed coat developed from the inner layer of the endocarp. This thin coat usually adheres tightly to the shell and/or the seed. Much of the kernel weight is made up of the cotyledons, which are about 4.1 to 16.6% of the whole fruit; it is composed of approximately 8% carbohydrate, 11.5 to 13.9% protein, and 70% fat. Kernels from some trees may be bitter, fibrous or have a turpentine odor.