ICONIC PHILIPPINE ASEELS IN THE BRAVEHEART FARM

By Manny Pinol

The Philippine Aseel, also locally known as “Parawakan,” “Basilan,” or “Jolo,” is making a great comeback in the country’s backyard chicken industry.

Neglected and ignored for so long, this sturdy and disease-resistant chicken breed which traces its roots to the ancient times, is now being bred in huge numbers and preserved in the Braveheart Farms of North Cotabato.

I have long been fascinated by this chicken breed which was believed to have been brought into the country by Arab missionaries using the Southern Philippines entry point and propagated by Muslim farmers in Mindanao and the islands of Sulu, Tawi-tawi, Basilan and Palawan.

Used mainly for naked heel fighting, an indigenous past-time and sport of native Mindanaoans, the Philippine Aseel also serves as a reliable source of meat for the Southern Filipino family’s table.

The Philippine Aseel, however, possesses a meat which is succulent and tender only when they are slaughtered young.

When allowed to grow to over a year, the meat can be very tough and its skin is as elastic as a rubber sheet.

The hens are stingy with eggs producing only an average of about 60 to 80 eggs a year, which is way lower than the average egg production of 180 to 220 eggs a year for other backyard chicken breeds.

Which is why when I made an effort to develop a new backyard chicken breed, I used the Philippine Aseel as the foundation blood.

Today, after about two years of propagating and rearing this iconic poultry breed, we have about 200 cockerels and stags ready to be used for next year’s breeding season to produce the Manok Pinoy.

(Photo caption: Philippine Aseel cockerels in the free range in the Braveheart Farms of Kidapawan City.)