Tale of the old sturdy 'langka' tree

I didn't realize it but when I planted a number of jackfruit trees (langka in the vernacular) in my modest farm in Antipolo some 25 years ago, I was actually growing a variety developed by the Eastern Visayas Integrated Agricultural Center (Eviarc). For years on end, the trees gave fruit the sweetest ever I have tasted of such kind, though I never attached any particular significance to it. Development over the years in that section of my lot had caused me to cut down all four of the langka trees, but one stubbornly clung on to dear life. When the rains came, its remnant stud brought forth shoots, which I no longer had the heart to cut off still. The shoots grew into stems, the stems into branches, which sprouted leaves to make for a full-grown tree once again.

"I think that I shall never see