Danica Mae Godornes, 26, graduates from the UP College of Law both as batch valedictorian and magna cum laude — the first in over a decade. [PHOTO: Danica Mae Godornes/Facebook]
MANILA, Philippines — When full-time working student Danica Mae Godornes learned that she would be graduating from the University of the Philippines (UP) College of Law both as batch valedictorian and magna cum laude, she was nothing but surprised.
“I do not compute my grades,” she told INQUIRER.net. “It was only last semester that I noticed that my grades were in the MCL (magna cum laude) range.”
The UP College of Law confirmed that the 26-year-old is the seventh law student from the country’s premier state university to achieve this distinction since 1962 and the first since Dionne Sanchez in 2007.
But Godornes, who isn’t one to tout her laurels, held no fanfare to herald her feat.
Glyds Urbano, one of her law school blockmates, tweeted an update on Sunday to announce Godornes’ achievement. “The world needs to know!” she quipped.
Nikki Malferrari, one of Godornes’ closest friends in law school, described her as a “supportive” and “down-to-earth” person.
“She’s a person with a lot to offer not just inside the courtroom or law setting but also with personal life situations, experience, and maturity. everyone in D2021 can attest to that an infinite many times,” she said.
Malferrari, who emphasized Gordones’ humility and dedication despite facing many obstacles, shared how the latter took the time to help them with the most difficult topics.
“She doesn’t have to do that, but she still does. Law school is difficult enough as it is, but seeing your blockmate work hard despite that difficulty and everything else is something that pulls everyone in D2021 up,” she added.
It wasn’t a smooth-sailing journey for Godornes, who, together with her older sister, had to take over their household after her father’s death in 2019. This loss, she said, caused her to file a leave of absence from law school.
“During those times, I wasn’t sure at all if I could handle the responsibility of being the head of our family (together with my ate) and the demands of law school, so I thought I needed to give [it] up,” said Godornes, who later on withdrew the application after talking to her friends and advisers.
Juggling all kinds of responsibilities proved difficult for Godornes, who often missed block hangouts and some of her birthdays, and whose personal time mostly consisted of staying at home and taking a break from her commitments.
Having a good support system, she said, really helped ease her mind off the stress that came with being in law school.
“My family, my blockmates, my friends, and my SO, they always supported me. Law school is really demanding, but having the people important to me understand those times and not pressure me about it, gave me peace of mind which is really a must in law school,” she said.
Her block, in particular, took immense pride in Gordones, who served as an inspiration to them since day one.
“We’re really close, parang pamilya, kaya seeing Danica get the recognition means a lot to us!” Malferrari said. “We all know she deserves every bit of that dahil sa effort and difficulties that she had to push through to make it this far.”
“Congratulations Danica, proud since Day 1 and even prouder ’til the end. – Elle, Chito, Michelle, Carli, Shain, Tin, Pia, Razel, Eunise, Yna, Lyn, Jake, Bella, Dianne, Nikki, JP, Jaycee, Jolo, Sha, Kristine, and Glyds” [Photo: Danica Mae Godornes/Facebook]
For the full-time working student who finished law school under the mercy of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is no other secret to success except hard work and discipline.
“I believe there is no shortcut po. Some people say, “study smart, not hard”, but I think that will not work in law school. What I did is to study hard and to study smart,” Godornes said.
“Law is a jealous love always demanding full attention and dedication; to understand law you must appreciate its applications,” she ended.
/MUF
A lucky combination: His love for technology and his passion for education may very well be a good marriage of sorts. It was technology that became the winning anchor in transforming the many ways in which we do our banking these days.
UnionBank’s Henry Aguda
Addressing financial inclusivity in the process, UnionBank’s Henry Aguda helped bring this access to anyone and everyone who has a smart phone to enjoy the service that literally any Juan can attest to the ease of use, with the increasing market share as proof of that.
Henry never left the academe. He always had the role of being a professor apart from being an executive. This led to his involvement with institutions across the country either as a guest speaker, panel or lecturer.
Henry teaches technology at UP Diliman’s Technology Management Center and Global Learning Solutions Singapore’s Asian Institute of Digital Transformation, while doing his own effort in bridging the digital divide say something about the man who envisions a more progressive Philippines through the use of digital and sustaining the access to education. Sure, he may have gone to the US to try things out, but UnionBank came and he ended up doing something meaningful—and to this day continues to do so, but with a bigger and richer perspective now.
These achievements do not come as a surprise since Henry always had this drive to learn and grow. His love for challenges started when he first went to the University of the Philippines to take up Bachelor of Science in Mathematics. He then proceeded to further expound his knowledge by pursuing law in UP in 2008, where he graduated Cum Laude and valedictorian of his class. He is currently finishing his Master’s Degree in Applied Business Economics at the University of Asia and the Pacific. In addition, he even participated in programs from The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania and the Asian Institute of Management, among many other institutions, which gave him a high-level rare industry-exposed knowledge in his chosen field.
The typical day for Aguda—UnionBank’s transformational executive leader, who has also been recipients of two awards as of late—as the Privacy Advocate of the Year for 2021 given by the National Privacy Commission and as the CTO of the Year in Southeast Asia 2021 as bestowed by The European Global Banking and Finance Awards—is mostly spent online teaching digital transformation and expanding inclusivity to cover education. And for a good reason. We think all schools and universities may have modernized at this point in time with the availability of technology but there is still a good number of those who need to make the pivot.
“We have the perfect demographics which we can take advantage of. We have a young population and we need to make their access to technology and digital easy,” shares Henry who also forecasts that we may get into an education crisis in the next five years if we don’t do anything about it. The country’s progress is assessed by its Human Capital Index (HCI) and education is a crucial part of it.
This is one of the drivers of the UnionBank Xcellerator program that Henry leads where they reach out to schools to bring digital skills to the teachers with the hopes that later on they can also give jobs to the students through various partnerships with technology and solutions providers.
In addition, technology has transformed from a capability enabler to an alternative or additional revenue stream. We see celebrities, influencers and other social media personalities taking advantage of revenue-earning platforms such as TikTok, essentially cementing the focused direction that advertising is going. In the same breath, there are other technology (decentralized) applications – or dapp – using blockchain that also helps in financial inclusivity through play-to-earn models.
One blockchain-based game, called Axie Infinity is a good example. A decentralized application (dapp) on the Ethereum blockchain, Axie Infinity players breed, raise, battle and trade cute and adorable digital creatures called Axies. A man from Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija named Ijon Inton, now earns around P10,000 per week from playing the game. Of course, Ijon shared it to his family and then to his neighbors and now you have an entire barangay earning while playing Axie.
“Progress can be achieved using digital, and we have seen that happen in UnionBank. We would like to see it also in sectors such as education and in logistics,” Henry quips. Execution excellence is of utmost importance to Henry’s team, and platform capabilities such as IBM’s API connect give tremendous value in their digital transformation journey.
“We would like to share the vision of Henry and support his advocacy on digital services and be an agent of execution,” Questronix President Mike Dionisio adds to the conversation, highlighting how platform capabilities, in the end, help power and support the strategy of the business executives.
Armed with strong support from partners and stakeholders, Henry is indeed scaling new heights in the digital frontier.
I first met Junyee when I
was a student at the University of the Philippines in the early
seventies. Together with some artist friends, we would later visit him
when he began living in the campus of UP, Los Banos, which has become
his home and a source of indigenous materials and inspiration for the
site-specific installations for which he became widely known as the
pioneer of installation art not just in the Philippines but in Southeast
Asia. Those were halcyon days, walking and talking amidst the lush
forestry and mountain trails at the base of Mount Makiling.
Through
the years, Junyee, fondly called the Supremo by his friends and peers,
has remained consistently dedicated to using indigenous materials as a
means of expressing his vision and his thoughts as a Filipino, an
environmental-friendly artist long, before environmentalism became a
burning issue.
But over and above being environmental-friendly, Junyee asserts “Even now, I still consider myself not just an environmentalist but a social realist artist. I define a socialist artist as one who speaks on behalf of the people and not just for himself. It is political to work outside the confines of an art gallery and to use materials most people can relate to.”(Quotation Source: https://www.artandmarket.net/dialogues/2020/9/7/conversation-with-mindanao-artist-junyee)
Photo source: Facebook page: Hermisanto
Fast forward to the present, around six decades later. In Celebration of Creativity: A Homage to Junyee opened
at Altro Mondo Gallery last June 26th and runs until July 25th, 2021.
Having pioneered the painstaking craft of installation art, and making
lasting contributions to Philippine art, more than 80 artists, a
veritable who’s who in the Philippine art scene, honor Junyee– the
artist and his broad body of work.
To quote from The Creative
Legacy of Junyee writeup by Riel Jaramillo Hilario, “…the artist chose
to work mostly with open environments, in site-specific spaces, and in a
natural relationship with nature. This keenness to work with organic
elements, upcycled refuse of the plant world, or the opportunities
presented by the environment set Junyee apart from the rest. The
approach was radical at a time when environmental concerns and problems
were not yet part of daily discourse… The consistency and conviction of
his creative praxis is a lesson on artistic dignity and erudition.
Junyee is the counterpoint to the group of pandering painters who fill
up their clients’ homes and coffers with portraits, investable assets
and whimsical fantasies of Western Art. In summary, he serves as the
rallying point for Filipino artists who remain true to their roots and
their visual language. Junyee is a true Filipino artist, worthy
successor to Juan Luna. And with his example of subversion, integrity
and love for his home, land and planet, we seek refuge and inspiration.”
Thanks
to my dear artist friends, notably Hermisanto, a relationship with
Junyee stayed on through the years, in spite of the fact that we had all
gone on with our separate lives. The opportunity to experience some of
Junyee’s works has accompanied me throughout my adult life.
Siete Pintados
Asia Art Archive
Junyee’s Siete Pintados one-man exhibit presented seven life-size
wood sculptures of pre-colonial Filipino males covered with tattoos
depicting indigenous and contemporary designs at the Galleria Duemila.
Around five feet high, the figures were sculpted from discarded acacia
and santol hardwood, in keeping with the artist’s intention to only use
indigenous objects, without cutting any live trees.
The works and
the tattoos portray the collision of cultures, as art critic Alice
Guillermo puts it,” induced by uneven and transitional spheres of
development within the context of Philippine society and culture.”
1990s, Hardwood Sculpture
One evening after the day’s work, I was walking past the Artwalk of Megamall on my way home after the day’s work. Fortuitously, some of Junyee’s sculptural works was on exhibit in one of the galleries. Two Fools (1997) depicting two comical figures swooning and jumping is an award-winning masterpiece.
Martha’s Dance. Source: Google Photos
Dark Matter
“Wormhole”, soot and paint on board, 36×96 in. (Source: rachelmayo.blogspot.com)
This time, Junyee plays with fire, painstakingly taking on the
evanescent qualities of soot which he created from the smoke coming out
from fire, having improvised a kerosene lamp from a bottle. Due to its
difficult process, this collection of around 30 paintings took a year to
complete after years of effort to control fire.
To quote art
critic, Rachel Mayo, “Junyee, a student of existential philosophy has
aligned his metaphysical concerns and interest in the “workings of the
universe” which he likens to the “magical, mysterious nature of smoke”.
Through these works the artist says, “I am exploring my mind and how I
can relate myself to the universe.”
The title Dark Matter refers
to matter that makes up the universe. In astronomy and cosmology, it is
hypothesized that 84% of matter in the universe is dark matter and 23%
mass-energy. With titles such as “Worm Hole” (the hypothetical
topological feature of space-time), “New Star”, “Black Hole Squared”,
“Falling Star”, etc. — the viewer gets a glimpse at the artist’s immense
fascination with the mysteries of life and the cosmos and writes
alongside his works, words like: “Reality and truth are two different
things. Reality is what we can perceive. Truth is what’s out there that
our mind cannot grasp”. Or “Dark Matter is the unseen force that holds
the universe together. Not unlike Man’s mind holding everything together
to define his existence”.
Balag and Angud: Musical Play
The last time I saw Junyee in person was when some old friends
motored down to UP Los Banos to watch the musical play based on the life
and times of Junyee. Balag means trellis made out of bamboo, alluding
to the artist’s first open-air show in the 1970s. And angud refers to
the tree trunk part where holes are drilled for hauling the log from
mountains. A statement against illegal logging, Junyee’s piece Angud: A
Forest Once represents evidence of how we abuse Mother Earth.
Three Selected Works– Site-specific and Monuments
Open Doors Monument, Holocaust Memorial Park, Rishon Lezion, Israel (2009) Testament to Filipino Jewish friendship. Facebook.com
‘Kwarantin’, 2020, site-specific installation at the Vargas Museum Lawn. Image courtesy of Vargas Museum.
1st ‘Bantayog-Wika’, public monument installed in Antique, Philippines. Image from Facebook.com
“Art is many different things to many different people. It seems to
be a discovery of the possible in a universe of infinite possibilities.
For millions of years, random patterns contained and recombined
following natural laws to create the immense diversity we see around us.
…The art of the possible is infinite; therefore I have no destination,
only a journey. I am an explorer of my world and I hope my universe” –
Junyee, 1980
Future Forward
Looking
at the wide body of work, Junyee has, through the decades, served as an
inspiration of what an authentic artist and more so, of what a human
being can be. Coherent, consistent with his artistic vision, beliefs and
principles all throughout, he never sold out to petty commercialism.
It
is no small wonder why artists and friends have launched a campaign
#junyee for national artist. If a national artist is one who has made
significant contributions to the development of the arts and culture,
pushing the boundaries of one’s culture and its arts towards new
horizons, it is without a doubt that his recognition as a National
Artist for the Visual Arts is a long time coming.
Putting
aside the fact that I am a friend, I fail to understand why Junyee has
not yet been awarded National Artist status. But, in the end, Junyee is
in deed, in thought and at heart, a singular artist for the Filipino and
the world at large.
Dear National Commission for the Culture and the Arts, what’s holding you back?
Mark Dexter Iglesias is an entrepreneur and the owner of Iglesias Farms in Malvar, Batangas. But he didn’t always expect to play an active role in
agriculture. He didn’t even plan to take a degree in Agribusiness Management. But since life works in mysterious ways, he was eventually set on that path.
“All I wanted at that time was to pass any non-quota course at the
University of the Philippines Los Baños and that’s it. As a result, UPLB placed me under the Agribusiness Management program because I didn’t have any preference of which degree to take,” Iglesias said.
He gladly accepted the course with the idea that he just needed to finish a degree and then get a job.
When he graduated college, his initial exposure to agriculture did not
progress until six years after, when his family bought a coconut farm. It took Iglesias another six years before he explored various opportunities in
farming.
Mark Dexter Iglesias graduated from UP Los Baños with an undergraduate degree in Agribusiness Management. He would later use his knowledge in agriculture on their family farm.
When he graduated college, his initial exposure to agriculture did not
progress until six years after, when his family bought a coconut farm. It took Iglesias another six years before he explored various opportunities in
farming.
Focusing on natural farming
Once thrust into the farming scene, Iglesias became interested in goat and egg production. But while he was doing his research on the topics, he came across the idea of natural farming.
He immediately envisioned their family farm following the principles of
natural farming because Iglesias agreed with its principles that promote
sustainability and environmental preservation.
“Iglesias Farms is a family-owned, integrated or natural farm, practicing
natural farming principles. We are driven by three main objectives: food
Security through steady and efficient food production and processing capability, climate-smart agriculture and zero-waste farm practices, and future expansion
as an agro-tourism site catering to students, enthusiasts, and farmers with a desire to veer away from conventional farming,” Iglesias said.
After being thrust into the farming scene, Iglesias became deeply interested in natural farming.
With his undergraduate degree, Iglesias has a good idea about
agriculture, its different components, as well as how these can be
maximized for business. But since he wanted to implement it on their
family farm, he attended several pieces of training and special courses
to further his knowledge on farming and how to do it naturally.
Through Iglesias Farms, the agriculture graduate aims to demonstrate
how natural farming is a good venture and a worthwhile endeavor. His
primary targets are clustered into three groups of people: those who
have land but are not into farming, existing farmers who are good at
what they do but fail on the business side of things because they have
limited access to the market, and the youth who intend to venture into
farming.
“I know that this is not an easy goal and may even extend beyond our
generation but I need to start somewhere, like here at our family farm,”
Iglesias said.
As a TESDA-accredited, Iglesias Farms offers lessons on organic
agriculture production. And as an Agricultural Training Institute’s
Learning Site for Agriculture, the family farm teaches the basics of
starting a farm business, marketing in a farm business setting, as well
as an integrated and diversified farming system.
Earning from farming
Iglesias Farm currently has six farm components which include
livestock and poultry, crops production, farm inputs production,
ornamental plants, farm school and tourism, as well as food processing.
Goats are among the livestock being raised on Iglesias Farms.
Their livestock is composed of native pigs, goats, and layer chickens. Meanwhile, Iglesias Farms grows crops such as coconuts, Japanese cucumber, tomatoes, and lettuce. Lastly, their farm inputs production provides products such as carbonized rice hulls and organic concoctions that are used as fertilizers or pesticides.
Japanese cucumbers from Iglesias Farms.
“Our farm staff has been trained to follow a protocol for taking care of our livestock. It is very important to remain strictly compliant with the schedule to ensure that our livestock is healthy and well kept. The same is true for our crops. Our staff has been assigned specific tasks according to our production schedule, which includes watering, weeding, preparation and application of organic fertilizers, and many others,” Iglesias shared.
He even plays an active role on the farm by reviewing the farm elements to keep them well-integrated and to also continuously identify areas for improvement.
“This is a needed routine because farm plans should be regularly revisited and adjusted as necessary to cope with the ever-changing market requirements as well as business constraints,” he said.
Among all these farm components, Iglesias shared that the farm profits the most from its coconuts, which they process into virgin coconut oil and coconut jam.
“We harvest around 2,500 coconuts per month and the income we get from its sales cover the labor costs,” he said.
Facing and overcoming agriculture-related challenges
Yet despite his knowledge in farming which he acquired from his undergraduate degree and training, there were still some obstacles that Iglesias had to face to secure the success of their family farm.
“There are several challenges in farming, but if I am to highlight one that impacts us significantly, then climate change should be at the top of the list. We hear about it a lot and maybe some of us ignore it, but needless to say, its effects are very evident and inevitable,” he said.
Iglesias added that it’s very hard to deal with forces of nature since there’s not much they could do to prevent it. But to keep their farm operations safe, he made sure that the farm has multiple components so that when one line of business is not doing well, others can help compensate for the poor performance.
Aside from climate change, market price fluctuations due to supply and demand dynamics, largely affect farm operations.
It’s expected because there’s also a natural tendency for farmers to plant whatever’s in demand without carefully studying how oversupply can have damaging effects in the long run.
To solve some of the challenges in farming, Iglesias diversified the farm’s source of income to keep business lines open when things get tough.
To mitigate the risks of market fluctuations, Iglesias makes sure that he doesn’t place all his eggs in one basket by diversifying what their family farm has to offer. He advises other farmers to plan production based on a clear and confirmed market, not because of trends.
For Iglesias, farming gives him a sense of fulfillment. It’s not about the income-generating aspect but rather how he can contribute to the country’s food security. So even though he didn’t initially plan on being on a farm, it seems that life has found a way to place Iglesias right where he’s meant to be.
“Honor and excellence” is the defining motto of the University of the
Philippines. And based from a few of the state university’s outstanding
alumni in various fields, these values far transcend academic life.
Though celebrities sometimes get the bad rap for choosing their
career over education, these actors and actresses kept their noses to
the grindstone—no matter how long, no matter how hard—just to earn their
much-coveted and highly prized degrees.
In time with the unfolding graduation season, let’s have a look at a
few famous celebrities who are also alumni of the country’s premier
university.
AGOT ISIDRO
Agot Isidro is a magna cum laude graduate at the Fashion Institute of
New York, with an undergraduate degree in Interior Design from UP
Diliman. She also has a master’s degree in communication from the Ateneo
de Manila University.
Before embarking on her decades-long showbiz career, Agot started out as a back-up singer with her sisters at The Sharon Cuneta Show, which ran from 1986-1997.
The effortlessly beautiful actress Angel Aquino attended UP Baguio, and chose Math as her initial major, before shifting to major in Journalism.
In an interview with Bianca Gonzalez for the Philippine Star, Angel said she also became a member of the League of Filipino Students during her student days. Though she never spoke during rallies, Angel said she participated in rallies, where the burning issue was the removal of US bases, by holding placards and distributing statements.
Benjie Paras was a vital cog in the historic 1986 UP men’s basketball
team that won the championship that year. Lito Tacujan, former sports
editor of the Philippine Star who covered the University Athletic
Association of the Philippines that time, once described Paras as the
one “who made it all happen.” After his historic UAAP stint, Paras went
on to have a successful career at the PBA and as a showbiz career as an
actor-comedian.
Decades later, his son Kobe Paras suited up and carried the title hopes of UP during the Season 82, where the Fighting Maroons reached the second round of the playoffs before being eliminated.
Eugene Domingo took up Theatre Arts at the UP Diliman, where she also
apprenticed under the theater company Dulaang UP as an actress and
production staff. She cut her teeth in the business as an apprentice,
working her way up from being a show usher, ticket seller, and even
goading professors to have their students watch their shows.
Before being dubbed as the “comedy star for all seasons,” Eugene started her mainstream movie career doing bit parts in the early ’90s as well as some minor roles in a number of TV shows in the same decade.
Giselle Sanchez made a name as a fearless comedian, but she treated
her college days at UP Diliman as no joke. In fact, she graduated magna
cum laude with a degree in Mass Communications after clinching a general
weighted average of 1.26, which was just a hairline short of summa cum
laude. An honors student even during her student days at Poveda, Giselle
was known to burn the midnight oil just to prepare for an upcoming
exam.
Aside from hosting gigs today, she now runs a namesake foundation funding scholars and is also active in her local Catholic church ministry.
Pinoy Big Brother season 4 finalists, twins Joj and Jai Agpangan both graduated from UP Open University with a degree in Associate in Arts in 2018. The proud Iskas even posted a photo of them during graduation wearing their sablay, beaming from ear to ear.
“Sometimes miracles come in pairs,” Jai wrote in her caption.
The post drew praise from their fans who were surprised how they were able to juggle their fast-rising showbiz career and earning their college degree.
Maricel Laxa has a BS Social Sciences degree from UP Manila. Though
she started her showbiz career early, right when she was still in
college, she did not drop out unlike other young actors and actresses
after she cut a deal with her parents that she could only enter showbiz
if she finished school.
Now, the mother of five also impresses the value of education on her kids. Even amid her successful showbiz career, she also managed to earn her Master’s Degree in Family Life and Child Development at UP Diliman.
Filipino model and television actor Martin Del Rosario graduated from UP Diliman with a degree in Broadcast Communication. To date, the 28-year-old actor has collected a number of awards for his TV and film roles. In 2015, he won the Gawad Urian Award for Best Supporting Actor for the film Dagitab.
Singer-Songwriter and actor Ogie Alcasid earned his degree in
Broadcast Communication at UP Diliman. It took him eight years to earn
his degree, and it is an achievement he has been proud to share as he
still persevered even as he juggled time between his then growing
showbiz career.
In 2017, the UP College of Mass Communication recognized Ogie as one of its most distinguished alumni “for bringing honor and prestige” to the College.
Model and actor Richard Juan was born in the Philippines but grew up in Hong Kong, where he completed his high school. When his family moved back to the Philippines, he continued his college education at UP Diliman, where he graduated cum laude with a degree in Broadcast Communication. Richard broke through the mainstream through Eat Bulaga’s segment “You’re My Foreignoy.” He was also cast in the Pinoy Big Brother: 737. Aside from Filipino and English, Richard can also speak his native Cantonese as well as Mandarin and Hokkien.
While the Filipino chef hasn’t been based in the Philippines since 2003, she can’t help but miss the variety of nostalgic dishes that shaped her love for food
Johanne Siy’s profession as a chef has taken her all over
the world. Her journey started in New York when she enrolled at The
Culinary Institute of America and further honed her skills under
celebrity chefs Eric Ripert at Le Bernardin and Daniel Boulud at Café
Boulud. She moved to Singapore to join Taiwanese chef André Chiang’s
culinary team, and helped the restaurant earn two Michelin stars in 2017
and attain its highest ranking (No. 2) at the Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants 2017.
When Restaurant André closed for good in 2018, she spent a few years
travelling the globe and doing short stints at lauded dining
establishments, including Faviken in Sweden, and Relae and Noma in
Copenhagen, to expand her palate and knowledge about food. After her
sojourn, she’s back in Singapore as the head chef of
Mediterranean-inspired outfit Lolla where she whips up creative plates
inspired by her travels.
She may have a global palate, but comfort food for her is always the Filipino dishes she grew up eating in her hometown of Dagupan in the Philippines. Here are some of her favourites.
What do you miss most on the food/drink front when you are away from the Philippines or haven’t been back for a while?
I miss specifics—like my mum’s arroz caldo (rice porridge), my aunty’s dinuguan and bopis (Filipino delicacies), a friend’s frozen brazo de Mercedes (meringue
roll) and so on. I think home cooking is really the focal point of our
food culture and the best meals to be had are those in homes where you
have recipes handed down through generations.
What is the first dish you eat when you return and where do you go for it?
Caldereta and kare-kare with my in-laws. My father-in-law has an impressive compilation of family recipes. The dishes are so good that we are perfectly content to just eat at home if we didn’t need to catch up with some friends we haven’t seen in ages.
Do you have a favourite restaurant in the Philippines? For fine dining and for more casual experiences?
I have not been based in the Philippines since 2003. But every time I
go back, there is always something new on the food front. I’m always
impressed by the chefs’ calibre of cooking, their inspirations and their
depth of understanding of the cuisine. My favourites are the ones
elevating Filipino food to the global stage with their modern and
innovative take on our cuisine—Gallery by Chele and Toyo Eatery by Chef Jordy Navarra will always be on my list. I have heard good things about Hapag but have yet to try. For casual options, Sarsa by Chef JP Anglo and Manam are always good choices.
If you have visitors/guests with you, where do you ensure you always go to give them a real taste of the Philippines?
If time wasn’t an issue, I would take them on a road trip all the way up north and then fly down south. Given the regional nature of our cuisine, I think it’s very hard to give people an accurate representation of our cuisine without actually travelling around. I’ll take them to a market, seaside dining and maybe an ihawan (grill restaurant).
Where do you like to meet up with old friends for food/drinks?
For me, that means going back to my hometown in Dagupan—the stalwarts
for me are Dagupeña and Matutinas—classic Filipino food and beach-side
dining featuring the freshest seafood. I’ve been going to Dagupeña since
I was a child. I’ve watched the staff grow from young men and women to
the industry veterans they are now.
Do you have a favourite bar and/or café in the Philippines?
Bank bar in the Bonifacio Global City (BGC) area and some innovative
cocktail bars in Poblacion. I’ve been hearing a lot about The Curator
but have yet to go.
Anywhere else that you never miss visiting when you are back?
Salcedo market for my taho (soybean drink) fix. A lot of enterprising Filipinos also start out hawking there, so there’s always something interesting to discover.
What do you always take back home with you when you leave the Philippines?
Pure taba ng talangka (seafood paste)–not the commercial
variety that you can just get anywhere. If you find the good stuff, it’s
culinary gold. When I was with Restaurant Andre, we once put a dish on
the menu that had ‘taba ng talangka and I remember having to lug a suitcase full of it back to Singapore every time.
Where do you go to find authentic flavours of home where you live?
I cook it at home. Our cuisine is so personal that everyone has a preference on how they want certain dishes done. For example, my version of adobo will be very different from someone else’s. The customisability of Filipino dishes where we are free to alter the recipes to suit our taste, not to mention the variety of sawsawan (dipping sauces) on the side, is a very unique and interesting aspect of our cuisine.
Dr Dionisa Rola, fondly known as Dr Dan Rola says her memories of her two year stay in Australia always leaves a smile on her face Source: with permission C Rola McKernan
Dr Dionisia Rola is the first Filipino Australian scholar under the New Colombo Plan.
By Maridel Martinez
Dionisia Rola was born to excel. An extraordinary woman who has lived through the hardship of war. In 1947, three years after the war through determination and hard work she graduated magna cum laude at the University of the Philippines when very few were able to complete their university degree. At one hundred years of age, she continues to find reasons to smile.
Highlights
After completing her Masters
Degree at The University of Melbourne, Dr Dionisia Rola served as the
Chair of the English and Comparative Literature Department at the
University of The Philippines Diliman
Dr Rola became the first female Chancellor in the UP System serving as the first Chancellor of UP Visayas
She
completed her masters degree in English at the University of Melbourne
with honours in 1952. The first Filipino to graduate in an Australian
University under the New Colombo Plan
Celebrating a century
“I am waiting for a
hundred gifts to arrive,” she says when we spoke one rainy afternoon
from her residence in Los Baños, Laguna, adding “It’s a bit gloomy today
but a lot better now that I am speaking with you.” Reminiscing about
her time in Australia gives her so much joy.
Dr Dionisia Rola was
teaching at the University of the Philippines’ Department of English
when the opportunity to study in Australia came.
“I remember a
crowd was waiting at the airport when my plane landed in Melbourne. I
felt so important, then I realized they were waiting for General Douglas
Mac Arthur who arrived around the same time.”
Instead, a man welcomed her at the airport and soon after felt the chill in her spine as she wasn’t dressed warm enough.
Those days people knew little about the Philippines as we Filipinos knew little about Australia. Dr Rola recalls, “The ‘Phillip-pines’ they’d say. No one knew from which part of the globe we were, but that’s okay we didn’t know much about Australia either.”
Dr Rola with former Australian Ambassador to the Philippines Amanda Gorely at the 2016 outstanding Australia Global Alumni Awards Source: Australia in the Philippines Facebook page
Differences weren’t fundamental
The
diplomatic ties between both countries was its in infancy, there was
much to learn about each other. The difference in English was one of the
first things she noticed, people pronounced words differently, but it
wasn’t so fundamental and wasn’t a hindrance to communication.
For
two years, she focused on completing her masters degree from the
University of Melbourne, while she didn’t have enough time to socialize
back then she was able to build a handful of lasting relationships.
To
this day, Dr Rola feels the warmth of Australians, prior to the
restrictions imposed by the pandemic she would be invited to Australian
events and would even get a visit from her Manila-based Australian
friends.
“My two years in Melbourne, I didn’t only gain a masters degree, I also got to experience a different way of life,” she says.
“I can never forget that day when a man on board the train repeatedly asked me ma’am p-i-e I would reply no thank you then I realised he wanted me to pay for my train ticket,” she recalls with fondness that put a smile on her face.
The COVID-19 pandemic has almost everyone to shelter in place to curb
the spread of the virus. This has resulted in a loss of jobs and
opportunities for many people and industries. For others, the forced
isolation has given them a chance to discover new hobbies and interests
or revive old ones. One of the most popular hobbies taken up during the
pandemic is gardening, which has regained popularity due to its stress
and anxiety-relieving properties as well as a possible small-scale
solution to a household’s food security.
For retired businessman Sebastian L. Angliongto, 85, being forced to
stay at home gave him a chance to fall in love with growing food all
over again.
A son of Davao
Angliongto was born in February 1936, eight months before Davao
became a chartered city. The youngest of three brothers, he lost his
mother at the age of six when the Japanese bombed Davao in World War II.
He was with his father, Alfonso Angliongto Sr., when the latter was
assassinated by a business rival four years later. Angliongto’s father,
who hailed from Tawi Tawi, is considered a pioneer of Davao City, and a
barangay was named in his honor in 2006.
Angliongto initially wanted to study engineering so he could work in
the USA, but his second oldest brother persuaded him to take up
agriculture, reasoning that they were planning to shift their family
business from shipping to farming. “Being… their youngest brother, I
accepted his advice despite not being happy because I wanted to be
independent and leave for the U.S.A. to forget from our tragic past,”
Angliongto shares.
Though Angliongto graduated with a degree in agriculture from UP Los
Banos in 1959, the Davao City native made his mark as the owner of
Angliongto Investment and Development Company, a real estate development
business that specialized in constructing commercial buildings and
warehouses. He is also a devoted family man to his wife Teresita Luy
Estrada and their children Jan Carlo and Angeli Therese.
Miniature fruit trees
Since Angliongto and his wife are seniors, both have been staying
home since March 2020, when community quarantine was imposed in the
Philippines. This allowed him to finally put what he learned in college
to use.
“With the pandemic, to keep myself busy at home, I decided to develop
three garden plots. My Chinese friend, Tony Tiu, gave me 10 packs of
various kinds of vegetables from Mainland China. In the vegetable
garden, we have pechay, red lettuce, patola, squash, camote tops, upland
kang kong, alugbati and carlan tuber,” he shares. “My wife, Tessie,
landscaped the other remaining areas. [They contain] her collection of
various kinds of flowers.”
Angliongto’s house, a sprawling bungalow on top of a hill, is located
in the second oldest subdivision in Davao City. It was designed by his
wife, a trained architect, and sits in the middle of two lots that total
1180 sq.meters. A lot of it has been dedicated to miniature fruit
trees. The list of what’s planted sounds like a fruit stall: “one
grafted Maharlika rambutan (a popular variety whose flesh is easily
separated from its seeds)… evergreen sticky flesh avocado, one Chinese
pinkish pomelo, and one rare fruit tree called abiu (Pouteria caimito),
which bears fruit that tastes sweeter than star-apple with only two
seeds,” Angliongto says. “Abiu bears fruits all year round, [as do the]
red and white dragon fruits planted at the back of our concrete fence.”
He’s also planted “a magnolia jackfruit in a half drum filled with
compost, a guyabano seedling, and a mango seedling grafted to three
kinds of mango scions—a carabao yellow mango, a Florida red mango, and a
giant sized Indian mango.”
Anglingto explains how he grows his miniature fruit trees: “It is a technique to develop miniature fruit trees due to limited space by cutting a whole steel or plastic drum into half with their respective half size drum planted in the digged soil hole so the fruit trees, as they grow, their roots will spread downward from the drum instead of going sidewards,” he says, adding that his miniature pomelo tree has produced over 100 pieces of fruit to date.
Angliongto beside his aibu tree.
A garden of food
Angliongto explains how he constructed his garden plots: “I elevated
the plot, filled [it] with pure compost soil mixed with fertile
vermicast,” he says. “The vegetables are all organic without inorganic
chemical manufactured fertilizer nor spraying with insecticide.”
To ensure the crops were always sufficiently watered, Angliongto
hired a plumber to drill a deep well. “[He] drilled almost 90 feet deep
and was able to hit fresh water,” he says. “We installed a 1 1/2 gould
pump motor to store water at the water tank to shower the plants every
morning if there was no rain in the previous night.”
His biggest challenge is pest control. “Vegetables are sensitive to
insect attack. [To prevent this,] some [crops] are covered with green
fishnet. Some I use a blower or water sprinkler to drive [pests] away.”
He also admits that tending a fruit and vegetable garden is time-consuming, but likens it to raising a family. “It is tedious work,” he says. “Vegetables are like babies. You have to take care of the veggies with tender loving care.”
One of the first things Angliongto did was construct raised beds for his garden.
Passion and duty
The harvests are all for the family’s personal consumption. “So we do
not have to go to the wet market to buy them!” Angliongto says. “Some
are made into fresh salad and some for soup and some are lightly fried
with ground lean meat or chicken without skin.”
He adds that the family also enjoys fresh fish such as pompano,
kitang, and bangus, which they get from his son’s friend, who owns a
fishpond.
Angliongto offers some advice for seniors to keep healthy during the pandemic. “With the pandemic, we have to be careful of exposure to COVID-19 from going out. [We should] keep ourselves busy [to prevent] being bored, [and] also to expose ourselves to sunlight and stay healthy by drinking at least eight glasses of water [a day] to prevent dehydration, [especially] with the present summer [heat]. It also helps to stretch our muscles to [avoid] old age pain.”
A giant radish harvested from the garden.
Gardening has certainly helped this retired businessman stay fit. He
plans to keep growing vegetables, “…and maybe plant pumpkin or kalabasa
by letting the vine sprawl temporarily in our grass garden. And also,
upo to replace the patola at the trellis above the vegetable garden
plot.”
Though he misses going out and longs for the pandemic to end, he’s
very happy to have reconnected with an interest from his past. For him,
growing food at this time is not just a passion, but also a duty: “With
some of my knowledge as a retired agriculturist, what good is it if not
to practice what I know at this time?”
The University of the Philippines recently honored one of the most
accomplished men I’ve had the honor to work with. Dr. Emil Quinto
Javier, National Scientist, former minister of science, University of
the Philippines (UP) president, UP Los Baños chancellor and many more,
was conferred the Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, by the UP in his home
campus at Los Baños last Saturday.
The UP president and members of the Board of Regents were there,
along with numerous other officials, colleagues, protegés, and friends
who braved the resurging pandemic to witness the dignified — and yes,
physically distanced — ceremony. Having recently turned an octogenarian,
he looks anything but one. Being a nearby neighbor in Los Baños and
fellow member in several bodies, I’ve witnessed first-hand how he still
keeps a punishing schedule and workload. He is a consummate
agriculturist by his heart, head, and hands — getting the last dirty in
the soil as he tends a small farm of his own nearby. No one can be more
credible in advising our agricultural policymakers, and he cannot but
get the respectful ear he deserves from our top decision-makers in the
sector.
But this piece is not about the man, but his wisdom, which he shared a
generous dose of with his audience last weekend. And he did it by way
of what first seemed a scathing censure of his very alma mater, where he
has had multiple perspectives as a student, faculty member,
administrator, and alumnus. Each role added clay to the masterpiece that
“EQJ,” as he is known to associates, has evolved into through the
years.
Painting a sobering picture of the sad state of Philippine
agriculture today, he went on to hold UPLB responsible for the sorry
state of this sector that has been host to most of the Filipino poor. My
immediate mental reaction was to dispute liability on the part of UPLB,
believing that UPLB had in fact not been listened to enough by the
politicians and some less-than-honest officials who have managed our
farm and fisheries sector over decades of lackluster performance. I had
come to my own conclusion long ago that the problem with our agriculture
lies not in lack of capability to make it thrive through using the
right knowledge and practice, but rather, in various persons and
institutions who have pushed the sector in wrong directions. How else
could we have ended up trailing far behind our neighbors whose pioneer
agricultural scientists trained and studied with us at UPLB?
And this is where I began to see Doctor Javier’s point in saying that
“we (at UPLB) were part of the problem.” As he listed six areas of
reform UPLB must pursue, his first item immediately resonated with me:
UPLB must build strength in the long-undervalued social sciences —
economics, sociology, psychology, and anthropology included — and their
crucial application to agricultural policy and governance. He recalled
how the late great Dr. Gelia Castillo, National Scientist in Sociology,
had once lamented that social scientists were “second-class citizens in a
world-class university” that UPLB is — and he noted that they appear to
remain so today. “It is about time to recognize… that the greater
challenges in our agriculture are not so much the agri part but the
culture dimension…. In fact, the bigger and more problematic part of our
challenges in agriculture had to do with governance and social
conflict.” Touché.
UPLB’s new chancellor, Dr. Jose V. Camacho, is a social scientist
(and economist) who could very well spearhead the needed change.
Doctor Javier also called on UPLB to (1) elaborate schemes to consolidate our small farmholdings into larger, more efficient and viable operating units; (2) reorient focus from production to value chains, including farm export diversification; (3) enhance efforts in value-adding and food and beverage manufacturing; (4) manage the trade-offs between farm intensification and care of the environment; and (5) pursue new disruptive technologies, but biased to especially benefit small farmers. Until the country’s premier university becomes the vanguard in pursuing such change, outcomes in our most inclusive economic sector will continue to mirror its own sins of omission.
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