By Danny Estacio  ALABAT, Quezon — The island of Alquerez (for Alabat, Quezon, and Perez) is being built up as Makapuno Island, the center of the country’s macapuno-making industry. (Google Maps / MANILA BULLETIN) The renaming of the is­land followed the launching of Adopt-A-Makapuno Tree program led by Quezon Gov. Danilo Suarez held at the Alabat Island National High School Gymnasium, Barangay Cama­gong, here. Suarez also signed the memorandum of agreement (MOA), with the mayors of Ala­bat, Fernando Mesa, Ma. Cari­dad Clacio of Quezon, Quezon and Pepito Reyes of Perez, and the representative of the Phil­ippine Chamber of Commerce in Toronto, Canada, (PCCT) who donated an initial $4,000 for the project. A pledge of support and commitment was also signed by national and local govern­ment officials and agencies like the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), Department of Science and Technology (DOST), Philippine Coconut Authority (PCA), Department of Agriculture (DA), National Ir­rigation Administration (NIA), Philippine Coconut Research and Development Foundation (PCRDF), Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Land Bank of the Philippines (LBP), Office of the Provincial Agricul­turist-(PLGU-OPA), Southern Luzon State University (SLSU) and the head of Makapuno Growers Association. Mesa said the amount from PCCT, collected from Filipi­nos residing and working in Canada, will be invested in the project. Mesa said he put up the project because coconut farm­ers should be given a chance to develop products from maca­puno, the thick, tender and gelatinous meat from coconut for the local and international markets. Suarez said he admired Mesa for initiating the project, and he urged the local leaders of the towns in the island to work with the provincial government for a much more productive outcome. For their part, the national officials and heads of con­cerned agencies led by Suarez committed to supporting the Makapuno Industry and Agri­business Investment promo­tion program, guided by the objectives of developing the potential of Embryo-Cultured Makapuno (ECM). Suarez said they will work together in establishing the Makapuno model farm, labo­ratory, and processing plant in Alabat island. The project envisions the macapuno as a high-value crop and viable export product that will boost the island’s economy and benefit communities by es­tablishing a Philippine Maka­puno brand.