Native sago palms were transplanted from Dulag to a Pangasugan experimental field, Leyte, Philippines in 2005 and tissue-cultured sago palms from Indonesia were transplanted to Pangasugan in 2007. The growth of native Dulag Philippines (NDP) and Indonesian tissue-cultured (ITC) sago palms was evaluated using the growth rate for palm height and number of leaves. The tissue-cultured sago palms (2.13 m/year) had a higher growth rate than that of the native sago palm (1.38 m/year) until 2012. The recovery of ITC sago palm (1.48 m/year) after wind damage by Typhoon Yolanda (maximum wind velocity: 65 m/s) in 2013 was slower than that of NDP (2.14 m/year) from 2014 to 2016. The development of living leaves of both NDP and ITC sago palms increased from 2 to 16 before Typhoon Yolanda hitting. Typhoon Yolanda teared off leaves, resulting in 2 for NDP and 4 for ITC. Until 2016 thirteen living leaves were observed for both NDP and ITC. The bending moment (Mb) at the height of palm trunk breaking by Typhoon Yolanda varied from 141 to 342 kNm for NDP sago palms and from 37.7 to 183 kNm for ITC sago palms. These Mb values show the strong wind resistant properties of sago palms. Both NDP and ITC sago palms, after being hit by Typhoon Yolanda were characterized by quick regrowth from the growing point of the trunk. We can conclude that the strong windresistant characteristics of sago palms lend considerable support to their survival in typhoon-prone areas of the Philippines.

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