UPLBHORIZON
April-June 2015
Official Community Newsletter of UP Los Baños
2015-02
UPLB graduates 2,124; BS DevCom major leads class 2015
April-June 2015
(see story on p. 8)
RG Davide, public service stalwart, is commencement guest speaker by Josephine M. Bo
D
r. Romulo G. Davide. The name rings a bell. It should because former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court Hilario Davide, Jr. is his brother. He might be, as one would say, lesser known, but his credentials are equally impressive. He is a professor emeritus of UPLB, a well-loved professor of plant pathology and nematology, and an accomplished and wellpublished scientist and researcher. To cap off all these, he was given the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2012 for helping empower farmers through science.
Within agriculture circles, he has been hailed as the “Father of Plant Nematology,” for his groundbreaking research on nematode pests that infest, debilitate, and destroy agricultural crops. Dr. Davide discovered fungi (P. lilacinus and P. oxalicum) that could kill nematode pests attacking vegetables, banana, potato, citrus, pineapple, rice, and other crops. This led to the development of BIOACT, a patented biological pest control agent that is environmentfriendly and a practical alternative to highly toxic and expensive chemicals.
MESSAGE
2015 Commencement Exercises
Chancellor Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr. Congratulations to our dear graduates! Your university graduation is one of the most important milestones in your life. It is the conclusion of years of hard work in fulfilling the requirements of your degree. You surely have stories to tell: stories on struggling to meet expectations, near-misses, rejections, perhaps even failures. In UPLB, academic excellence is a bar that has been set high, rightfully so because as UP students, much has been given to you by our fellow Filipinos. As the saying goes, “For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required.” As an Iskolar ng Bayan, your tuition has been subsidized by the Filipino people regardless of your STFAP classification. This is a fact that every UPLB graduate must remember. For excellence is not only a promise you made between your loved ones, but a vow you pledged to fulfil to your country and the Filipino people. Let this vow inspire you to make a difference in the lives of our people as you embark on a new phase of existence. Apart from aspiring for academic excellence, as a national university, UPLB instills and promotes public service among its constituents. This commitment is explicit in the UP Charter of 2008 and reinforced in UPLB’s vision of becoming a globally competitive research and graduate university that contributes to national development. The idea has most likely been mentioned or introduced to you during your stay in UPLB. Nevertheless, allow me to remind you before you leave UPLB. Your graduation confirms your identity as an Iskolar Para Sa Bayan. Iskolar Para Sa Bayan aptly captures an orientation, a mindset, a will of public service. Public service is not a narrow path limited to careers in government or civil society, albeit we encourage you to take such road less traveled. I want you to think of public service more deeply and broadly as a variety of opportunities to dedicate one’s self to others. You may be working in the private sector as a manager, scientist, innovator, an entrepreneur, or an industry leader. But if you have embraced the true meaning of public service, your compassion to make your fellow Filipinos’ lives better will find its way into your future, regardless of your calling. This is the kind of public service that I hope sticks with you after UPLB. I am certain that you will emerge as future public servants and leaders in your own ways, much like Dr. Romulo G. Davide, a Ramon Magsaysay Awardee and this year’s commencement speaker. With Dr. Davide on the stage as you receive your diplomas, I hope your memories of UPLB and your graduation will always be marked by an image of an Iskolar Para Sa Bayan who kept his vow to use his expertise to help Filipinos and his nation. May honor and excellence continue to motivate you as you serve others beyond the university. Again, congratulations, UPLB graduates!
Empowering farmers His discovery of the fungi and consequent recognition as a nematologist would have capped his career in the academe where he practically rose from the ranks at the then UPCA. He finished M.Sc. in plant pathology at the Oklahoma State University in 1962 and Ph.D. in nematology at the North Carolina State University in 1965. The grand design for his life’s advocacy, however, eventually emerged and took over his retirement plans. A desire to prove that “there are no barren soils, only barren minds” fueled his resolve to help farmers. Dr. Davide went home to Argao, Cebu in 1994 to implement the “Farmer-Scientist Training Program (FSTP),” selflessly using his prize money as “Outstanding Agricultural Scientist” of the Department of Agriculture. Doing this, he risked his reputation and credibility as a scientist because Cebu, with its calcareous, rocky soil had been dismissed as unproductive even by agriculture bureaucrats. Through the FSTP, a cornbased farming system, Dr. Davide trained an initial 50 Cebuano farmers in conducting experiments to test the efficacy of technologies in their own farms. The approach, with its values formation and marketing components, empowered and gave them a new-found dignity in their
Dr. Davide
(Photo courtesy of RM Award Foundation)
livelihood, and resulted in higher productivity in the farmer-scientists communities. Creator of ripples of change By mid-2000, the FSTP was creating ripples of change as an extension approach in Cebu and across the country when it enabled farmers to increase their income at least six-fold. In 2008, it was elevated into the National FSTP and has since expanded to 103
RG Davide....from p. 3
Partners in public service Dr. Davide has remained a staunch partner of UPLB in public service. With the passage of Republic Act 9500 or the UP Charter, UP as the National University, has been mandated to serve as a graduate, research and a public service university. Under the administration of Dr. Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr., UPLB has highlighted the public service mandate in its vision “to be a globally competitive graduate and research university contributing to national development.” Consistent with this vision, UPLB recently infused additional funding to scale up the National FSTP. With this, Dr. Davide and UPLB will continue to reinforce each other’s efforts to make every Filipino farmer a discerning farmer-scientist -- one who wields mastery and control over the use of his/her resources and destiny, and who meaningfully benefits from national development.