Ronald achacoso biography

By Michele T. Logarta

Originally published in The Philippine STAR Opinion section on September 10, 2022

Last Sunday, I laid eyes on a Mangkono tree for the first time.

Or, rather, it is more likely that I had seen it before but didn’t know exactly what I was looking at.

For all of 2022, it was just a picture on my planner heralding the month of August.

Except for its bright red flowers, I would have just passed it by.

My planner, which depicts Philippine forest blooms beautifully drawn by artist Cynthia Arre, tells me that this tree is known as Philippine Ironwood “for its very hard luxurious timber that can be burnished to look almost like metal.”

That magical quality of the Mangkono is its curse.

It is plundered in the wild; its wood harvested and used for anything that needs its Herculean strength.

The Mangkono is endemic to the Philippines, meaning it is found only here.

The Mangkono was one of the trees I saw during our nature walk with L