Arturo Gómez-Pompa Professor of Ecology and Botany in the Faculty of Sciences of the National University in the Institute of Biology at UNAM. These distinctive and academic positions have gained Gómez-Pompa a prestigious reputation in the ecological world. He discovered the use of Theobroma cacao, or the tree of chocolate, as ancient crops in rejolladas and cenotes within the Yucatán Peninsula. This confirmed his hypothesis on the anthropogenic origins of the Mayan forests and advanced future research in the domestication of tropical trees. Gómez-Pompa created a database for the Flora of Veracruz project in the 1960s that is still utilized to this
Maria Cacao Maria Cacao Maria Cacao is the "diwata" or mountain goddess (the exact term is derived from Sanskrit word "devata" देवता) associated with Mount Lantoy in Argao, Cebu, Philippines. The Maria Cacao legend is a prominent example of the mountain-goddesses motiff in Philippine mythology, other prominent examples being Maria Makiling of Los Baños and Maria Sinukuan of Mount Arayat. The original name of the Maria Cacao is unknown as it was not recorded before the Spanish subjugated her name in a bid to instill Roman Catholicisms into the natives. But it is widely assumed her name is not indigenous as 'Cacao'