ATTRACTION. A six-meter-tall Christmas tree made of dried marang fruit leaves and sprayed with metallic gold paint stands inside the headquarters of the Army's 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion in Baloi, Lanao del Norte. Some 700 dried marang fruit leaves were used in the body of the tree. (Photo by Divina M. Suson)
BALOI, Lanao del Norte -- A six-meter-tall metallic gold Christmas tree made of dried marang fruit leaves has been the center of attraction inside the camp of the Army's 4th Mechanized Infantry Battalion, in Barangay Nangka here.
A popular fruit in Mindanao, the marang (scientific name Artocarpus odoratissimus) is also known as madang, terap, johey oak, green pedalai, tarap or timadang. It is a fruit tree of the mulberry and fig family Moraceae.
About 700 dried marang fruit leaves were used in the body of the tree, sprayed with metallic gold paint, and dusted with glitters, 2Lt. Rinze Marrion Eviota said on Thursday.
Eviota, the scout platoon leader of the 4Mech, was given the task to lead the creation of the Christmas tree.
About six liters of paint were used to color the leaves. Set in concrete on an old tire of a military vehicle, the base is a tube the soldiers once used as a pole for the volleyball net inside the camp.
"It has been dumped in our storage area so we decided to use it. It's all recycled," he said.
Lt. Col. Bernardo Taqueban, former commander of 4Mech, instructed the troops to create a unique Christmas tree made of recycled materials, Eviota said.
"It came to my mind the marang leaves I saw in Agus 4 (in Baloi) when we were doing our foot patrol. We were able to collect 11 sacks of dried leaves and selected the good ones. Yun ang ginamit namin, (that's what we used)," he said.
Twelve soldiers, including Eviota, started working on the tree on November 20 but stopped because they had to join a military operation.
The troops resumed work on December 13 and finished the tree on December 15, minutes before the official lighting of the Christmas lanterns inside the camp.
The 800 Christmas lights and 30 meters of tube light give life to the tree.
Eviota said civilians can view the tree at the headquarters’ premises and take pictures.
https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1089557
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.