When UPCA turned 50 years old in 1959, Dean Uichangco retired. Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali, a plant breeder, took over as Dean. He was responsible for the rapid growth and development of UPCA. Among the many programs and innovations introduced during Umali’s time was the introduction of the Flower and Garden Show in 1962. During that time also, there were more female than male students at UPCA. Soon enough the “baka-bakahan” society became popular. Baka-bakahan is an insect that entomology students were required to collect for their laboratory classes. Normally, these insects, particularly during mating season, are seen conjoined (male and female) in most tree barks on campus. The “baka-bakahan” society also invariably referred to male and female students becoming more frequently seen strolling on the UPCA campus during weekends.
Dean Dioscoro L. Umali was largely known as the "father of UPCA's Five Year Development Program" which focused on the physical development of UPCA. It was also during his time that the UP-Cornell Program was implemented at UPCA.
Another past time among faculty and students during the Umali years was the Faculty Follies, a stage presentation where the members of the faculty let their hair down and participate in a spoof of officials and events at UPCA mainly for fun. The Faculty Follies was last staged in 1968 purely as clean fun. The Faculty Follies in succeeding years became competitive because it was made a competition rather than entertainment. Many have lost their interest in this event. At about this time, as well, Dean Umali was concurrently Vice President (of UP) for Agriculture and Forestry Affairs and Undersecretary of Agriculture.
In 1969, Dean Umali accepted the position of Deputy Director-General of the FAO. It was Dr. Faustino T. Orrilo who succeeded him as Dean. Dean Orillo assumed the deanship amidst worsening national economic slowdown and increasing student activism. It was observed at that time that there were two groups of students: the activists, and the hippies (usually referred to as pe-hips). Many from the ranks of the activists and the hippies didn’t finish their studies. When Marcos declared Martial Law in September 1971, many UPCA activists went to the mountains. Some stayed on campus and simply kept low profiles, until they completed their studies.
On 20 November 1972, President Ferdinand Marcos signed Presidential Decree No. 58, establishing the University of the Philippines System and declaring UPCA as the first Autonomous Campus of the UP. The first chancellor of UPLB was the late Dr. Abelardo G. Samonte, a political scientist from UP Diliman. That ushered many significant changes at UPCA. Under the UPLB, the College of Agriculture was essentially dismembered.
Dr. Fernando Bernardo became the first Dean of the College of Agriculture under the new structure of the UPLB. It was during his time when UPCA departments were weaned and became the nucleus of new colleges: Department of Humanities became College of Arts and Sciences, Department of Agricultural Economics became College of Economics and Management; Department of Agricultural Engineering became the College of Engineering and Agro-Industrial Technology, Department of Home Technology became the College of Human Ecology, and ultimately the Department of Development Communication became the College of Development Communication (under the deanship of Cecilio Arboleda).
When Dean Bernardo accepted the position of Deputy Director-General of PCAR (Philippine Council for Agricultural Research) in 1972, Dr. Cledualdo Perez, Jr. took over as Dean. It was during Dean Perez’ time when the campus experienced rapid changes that ultimately led to a modernized College of Agriculture but which ushered in an era where more and more institutions of higher learning in agriculture in the Southeast Asian Region and in the country completely changed the landscape of agricultural education in Asia. Competitors of UPCA as the “premier” college of agriculture in the region came into the picture. Curiously, the nucleus of agriculture faculty in these institutions studied at UPCA in previous years.
The succession of deans who took over the reigns of the UPLB College of Agriculture after Perez included Deans Ruben Villareal, Cecilio Arboleda, Luis Rey Velasco, Candida Adalia, and Domingo Angeles (present). All that transpired during these deanships are fresh in the minds of recent alumni.
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(Old pictures coming.)
(Old pictures coming.)
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