Iligan’s Suka Pinakurat turns 25
ILIGAN CITY (MindaNews / 26 Oct) — “Wow, 25 years! Who would have thought we’d reach this far noh?!” Peppo Stuart del Rosario said as he welcomed me Saturday evening to the silver anniversary celebration of their family’s product — the Suka Pinakurat — now a household name all over the country, and beyond.
How fast time flies indeed. Who could have imagined that the concoction of coconut vinegar with chili and other spices by the late Rene Jose B. Stuart del Rosario (Peppo’s Dad), would soar to such great heights?
“Mao ra nay produkto sa Iligan nga mapalit diri, $4.25 taga lapad (It’s the only product of Iligan you can buy here, $4.25 per pocket-sized bottle),” said Lito Go, a classmate back in college who now works in the field of computer science in Los Angeles.
“As mayor and as a fellow Iliganon, I can’t help but feel proud,” said Iligan Mayor Frederick Siao during the “Pilakurat” celebration at Cheradel Suites. (“Pilakurat” is a combination of the Cebuano words “pilak,” meaning silver, and “kurat,” or surprise, from which the vinegar was named after because of its surprising spicy kick.)
“Suka Pinakurat is more than just a household name. It’s a symbol of what Iliganons can achieve when we believe in our people,” the mayor added.
I knew Rene since my childhood, because I watched him play football with my Dad. Then I saw him open a restaurant offering lechon manok and chopped baboy sulop (wild boar) soused in spicy vinegar. He spent years in the restaurant and food manufacturing business. His baboy sulop offering, in fact, was the one he first called “pinakurat” as the vinegar product bearing the same name came much later.
Later, I saw him — a devotee of Iligan’s patron saint, St. Michael the Archangel — as a mainstay in fiesta events such as the procession and the “pagpakanaug” rites, when the statue of the saint is lowered from the pedestal to be closer to the people nine days before the Sept. 29 fiesta. He was among the volunteers who helped move the platform that carried the statue of the saint around town. Even when he was already on a wheelchair, he could still be seen at the St. Michael’s Cathedral with the crowd during fiesta celebration.
But it was his failing health, after a heart bypass operation that left him with almost nothing, that drove Rene to come up with his signature spicy vinegar. He only had his wife, nee Donna dela Cruz, and a few relatives to help him out.
With only ₱28,000 remaining of his funds, he gambled everything for his venture, and was rewarded. His Suka Pinakurat became popular, aided only by word-of-mouth advertisement by fellow Iliganons who brought bottles to faraway places as pasalubong.
It became the Pinoys’ favorite sawsawan, even with the simplest of meals. Event host Carlo Lasiste shared his own experience: “Even with just fried fish, once I dip it in Suka Pinakurat, it becomes a special meal.”
As sales of Suka Pinakurat was rising two decades ago, Rene’s four children (Atty. Rendo, Peppo, Paul, and Dondon) decided to help out, leaving behind their young careers. The right mixture of the brothers’ different personalities, which Rendo said they all got from their father, apparently helped in Suka Pinakurat’s success.
Rendo acknowledged that among the brothers, Dondon, 43, the youngest, is the most business-minded. “When we were young, when you ask him ‘two plus five,’ he won’t’ answer. But if you ask him ‘two pesos plus five pesos,’ he’d readily respond, ‘seven pesos!’”
Paul, he said, has the most creative mind. Beyond Suka Pinakurat, Paul the hobbyist beer brewer pushed the family to go into the beer business. Thus, Fat Pauly’s Hand Crafted Ales and Lagers was born. (He’s on the heavy side, that’s why.) It now has the most iconic commercial building in town, sitting atop a hill overlooking the city — the Fat Pauly’s Taproom+Pub. Complete with a windmill, it is Iligan’s most photographed building.
Peppo (Rene Jose Jr.), Rendo says, is the technical guy. “He’s the one fond of research… He wants to invent, he wants to create. It’s my Dad’s ingenuity that he got, also the temper,” he joked.
Rendo, now 50, says he just happens to be the eldest, and the lawyer. He constantly battles the hundreds of copycats who infringe on their copyright of the name “pinakurat.” The Stuart del Rosario family was granted copyright registration by the Philippine Intellectual Property Office in 2004.
During the celebration, the Stuart del Rosario family announced the publishing of the Suka Pinakurat coffee table book, which carries the theme “25 Years, 25 Stories.”
To be available in December, the book will feature some of their pioneering workers, from the mananggiti (the worker who harvests “tubá or coconut wine that is then fermented to become vinegar) to the bottle washers.
A fitting tribute, indeed, considering Suka Pinakurat’s humble beginnings. (Bobby Timonera / MindaNews)
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