You’re looking at an idea that took a while to become a reality.

But first off, why call this blog the Sayote Republic.

UP Baguio alumni Gino Orticio (the boss) decided to write Charl Asuit (the techie), and I (blog addict) an e-mail message one night, asking us if we were interested to start a blog for our fellow alumni. Apparently, Gino who has been moderating a Yahoo! mailing list group of UP Baguio alumni had been toying with this idea for sometime.

A few email exchanges happened, and viola, this blog was born. It needed a name, though. Several emails were exchanged until we agreed on Sayote Republic. Why? We love Sayote and I personally believe one way or another, we had our share of Sayote back in College (especially when you’re running low on food supply, hehe).

Check out this interesting story about Sayote, titled “Sayote: The Survivor’s Vegetable” in Bulatlat.

Excerpt:

It may not be as glamorous as the lettuce nor as colorful as the carrot, two of the more popular vegetables produced in the Cordillera, but the lowly sayote has proven itself to be a life-saver, both for farmers and calamity victims.

BY JOHNNY FIALEN, Northern Dispatch

Posted by Bulatlat

La Trinindad, Benguet – Sayote is a green, papaya-shaped vegetable, a bit hairy and belongs to the gourd family, just like cucumber, watermelon and pumpkin. The cucurbit is also known as chayote or sechium edule.

The sayote has several times served an important role during calamities in the region. Sayote was used to help victims in the areas affected by the 1990 killer earthquake that severely ravaged, among others, Baguio City.

When Mt. Pinatubo in Zambales erupted in 1991, Benguet farmers were mobilized and about 250 tons of sayote and other relief goods were sent to the victims. Recently, an “Oplan Sayote” was again launched to help families affected by the typhoons in Quezon, Nueva Ecija and Aurora provinces.