New flower named after Cheche Lazaro

MANILA, Philippines - The University of the Philippines in Los Baños (UPLB) gave the name "Cheche Lazaro" to a new gumamela hybrid to honor the veteran broadcaster who brought investigative journalism to Philippine television.

The university's College of Agriculture-Institute of Plant Breeding recently developed the woody shrub Hibiscus rosa-sinensis with a strawberry-red flower, the latest of the 44 gumamela hybrid varieties generated by the center since 1994.

"The new flower honors the extraordinary contributions of Cheche Lazaro as an outstanding broadcast journalist for her multi-awarded TV program Probe, the first investigative program," college Dean Domingo Angeles said in a statement.

A new gumamela hybrid called 'Cheche Lazaro'

The flower's color and its pinkish red eye symbolize Lazaro's "fearless character in exposing sensational issues concerning Philippine society," Angeles added.

The Cheche Lazaro flower is part of a series of gumamela varieties named after women public servants, including incumbent Senator Loren Legarda.

Heroines, women scientists, women leaders and saints had also been honored by having a gumamela named after them in the past, he said.

The acclaimed Lazaro, known for the documentary show The Probe Team, also graduated from the university's Diliman campus under the Speech and Drama program.