What Are My Students Thinking?

We at the UPOU have been asking our students to write, as honestly as they possibly could, their personal journals – their own narratives of how they felt about their courses at UPOU during the semester about to end.  These journals, we’ve been emphasizing, don’t influence their grades.  We only want them as guides for our own evaluation of how we may have performed as Faculty-In-Charge of our courses.  I’m now reading the personal journals of my students in Comm 320, a course under the Doctor of Communication Program.  These journals are spread over a wide range of what sound as honest and impartial commentary on how the course was run during the semester.  To me, I take these journals as objectively as I could and not personally.  Well, that’s how confident I am about my ability to manage my course and its content.

I wish to share with you a randomly picked (meaning, I just got this an hour ago) personal journal, written by Mr. Arnel E. Genzola, a Filipino teaching English at a university in China.  Let me reproduce, unedited, his brief journal here.  I hope Arnel wouldn’t mind.

  

The course kicked off in a manner I so like.  The course expectations/learning outcomes, exams, required participation, rules and modules topics clearly outlined and elucidated through the Course Guide have been most helpful in properly directing the course and the students.  The list of references and reading materials provided me profitable reading and learning experiences, and because the Course Guide is sharply designed, it fostered learner control and facilitated my ability to guide my own learning and to be highly self-regulated and responsible for planning, organizing, monitoring, evaluating, and reflecting on each module topic.  Too, the parameters set for the class and certain conventions and guidelines that must be observed on forum discussion, assignment submission, and forum posts, to me, made a lot of sense.  For instance, the rule on one discussion thread at any given time for each module and the opening of a module early morning of Saturday and the closing about the same time next Saturday promised greater learning effectiveness appropriate in providing a better quality of interaction and relevant in sustaining dynamic engagement responsive to the needs and challenges of pedagogy and practice in contemporary learning spaces.

I adhere to the commonly held belief that knowledge grows exponentially when shared.  The dynamic involvement that took place through active electronic discussion board (EDB) sharing, exchanges, and participation of both the professor and the students made my Comm 320 class experience and learning even more meaningful.  This collaboration enriched relationships, encouraged greater interdependency that allowed cross-functional thinking and abilities to be drawn into a healthy exchange of knowledge and ideas, and enhanced the creation of a virtual learning environment that is conducive for personal and professional development.  It is from this well-directed and insightful aerobics in exercising and strengthening my grasp of each discussion topic that I gained a better understanding of each module topic, and in particular, the two of the most interesting course topics, systems thinking and the learning disciplines of Senge, akin to distance education deepened my grasp of the significance of interconnectedness of individuals, structures, and processes not only in directing and developing actions and thoughts but also in advancing learning, intensified through dynamic sharing and collaboration.

What could be considered in the future, perhaps, is the inclusion or integration of video conferencing for a session or two.  I personally regard such to offer profound impact on the quality of the education experience.  I am cognizant of the underlying constraints and limitations, but it would certainly fortify discussions and exchanges especially to topics of great interest.  One remarkable feature of this course is the activity after each module requiring learners a synthesis of module topic by relating the same to one’s context of current work and substantive field which is highly creditable because direct application of concepts learned is taking in action benefiting the learner and his or her organization.  Many times our EDB was swamped with nifty and edifying comments, observations, remarks, and explications; an obvious manifestation of how we take an active interest and rejoice in the richness of what we are learning.  I, myself, have learned a lot from my professor and classmates.  It enabled me to build a broad base of knowledge through forum discussion and assigned readings that widened my perspectives on other areas not limiting me to my substantive area.  This could be intensified via videoconferencing that supports far greater interaction than is otherwise possible from text-based engagement given the deluge of commentaries and exchanges evident in each module discussion.  Believing in the expertise of my professor that I personally look up to for his wit and qualities worthy of emulation, the utilization of videoconferencing will all the more enhance delivery of technology-based instruction and learner engagement.

The class as a learning community benefited everyone on the course because of the maximized participation and engagement in the learning process of both the professor and the students.  This continues to thrill and inspire me to pursue this advanced degree.  Indeed, the University of the Philippines – Open University is true to its commitment of providing quality higher and continuing education through its excellent faculty members who are breaking new grounds and rearing the standard of excellence utilizing distance education technologies and methodologies that give rise to innovative applications and instructional paradigms that promote and sustain lifelong learning and professional growth.

Thank you, Arnel, for the kind words.  I know this applies to all courses and professors of the UPOU.  As to Arnel’s suggestion to include videoconferencing among the tools employed in the delivery of the courses, especially under the DComm Program, we happen to be, at the moment, deep into conceptualizing a website for DComm that shall employ multiple techniques and approaches, including use of videos.  We hope to be able to construct a highly interactive website where DComm students can interact particularly within specific courses.  Needless to say, we are hoping to be able to strengthen the abilities and opportunities of DComm students to engage one another in dynamic exchange of ideas as they journey through their respective courses and other academic activities.

We hope to be able to construct soon the DComm Website, which shall be linked with the FICS website, and the UPOU website.  Like I said, we’re just in the conceptualization phase.  Still, we know it’s the right direction for the Program.

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Swinging Thru Tiaong

 

Tiaong, the first town in Quezon past San Pablo City in Laguna, is actually the town-host for Villa Escudero, that high-end week-end get away resort and hacienda.  Jegs and I got a chance to visit some of the potential tourist spots in the town.  Jegs is helping Tiaong develop its tourism program (some kind of advocacy as she’s doing this practically pro bono), while working to complete her PhD in environmental science at UPLB (she just passed her comprehensive exams last week, yehey!).

Just past the boundary arch shared by Tiaong and San Pablo City, is a new facility called “Tagpuan sa Villa Escudero.”  There’s a McDo fast food resto there.  It’s where we met Tiaong’s Tourism Officer, Ms. Sheila Abaña, and her staff who accompanied us on the tour.  We had a quick breakfast, then started our Tiaong tour.

First stop. Bgy. Lalit, to take a look at Mainit Spring.  It’s a hot spring, although the water spouting from inside the earth is not really steaming hot, unlike those hot springs in Los Baños.  This particular spring, small as it is, and located by the river bank, can be developed into a nice pool of hot water where visitors could take a quick dip.  Residents of the place claim that water from the hot spring has medicinal effects on bathers.  Well, don’t most hot springs do?  Other visitors could enjoy either kayaking or river tubing on the river itself.  The hot spring also spouts water directly to the river as evidenced by the many bubbles along the river bank and in the deeper parts of it. 

Getting there now is through a hanging steel bridge, which adventurous visitors would enjoy.  For the less adventurous, like seniors wanting just to take a dip in the hot spring, a concrete bridge running side by side with the steel bridge could be constructed.

From there we passed by the Municiapal Hall and on the way picked up Ms. Lanie Limbo, a DENR personnel, who says her group was temporarily housed in the DA building because their building was being renovated.  She was careful not to say that she’ll be the CENRO (Community Environmental Officer) but she probably will get the post.  She’s a graduate of UPLB (Forestry).

Second stop, Bgy. Ayusan, to have a look at a few areas that have potentials as places of interest.  We visited the Cow Farm there, owned by the Katigbak Family of Lipa City.  According to the Farm Manager of the Cow Farm, Mr. Ronnie Ernie (who used to be with the National Dairy Authority), they have 138 heads of Holstein breeds, which are good producers of milk.  The Cow Farm, we were informed provide milk and yogurt to Starbucks in Lipa City.  Thing is, when we visited the place we almost didn’t see any cow as they were grazing in bushes elsewhere.  Besides, the Cow Farm’s processing plant is in Lipa City, so there’s very little action in this farm.  Not quite exciting as tourist spot.  Jegs took note of the place because if the owner agrees, the Cow Farm could be developed as part of the agri-tourism program of Tiaong.

At Bgy. Ayusan, too, are a few more spots.  For example, we were informed that there was a cave in the place, known as Ayusan Cave.  We didn’t get to it, although we were to a place where we could see the rock formations on the slope of the mountain that was obviously part of the cave.  I inquired from the residents in the area if there were bats or perhaps snakes in the cave but they didn’t know.  They claim, though, that there were many monkeys in the place.  We didn’t visit the cave, and we didn’t see the monkeys.

From Bgy. Ayusan, one can see clearly a grassland patch near the peak of the mountain they call the Malarayat-Malipunyu Mountain.  The portion of the mountain facing Tiaong is called Malipunyu, while that facing Lipa City is called Malarayat.  

 At the Malarayat side, of course, is the Malarayat Golf Club in Lipa City.  I saw a great potential of the Tiaong side of the mountain (Malipunyu) as a mountain trekking area for those who enjoy trekking, or mountain bikers. Lanie says there are bikers who have been frequenting the mountain.

At Bgy. Ayusan, as well, we visited a Gawad Kalinga community where residents have organized themselves into the Kapit Bahayan Producers’ Cooperative.  

Their project is charcoal briquetting, using coconut husk as raw material.  Their charcoal making plant has a capacity of 300 kg/day but currently  producing only 60 Kg/day.  If one is interested to experience making charcoal briquettes, it would take no more than an hour to complete the cycle, from husk burning, grinding, mixing with water a flour, pressing in the briquette molder, and drying.   

 The entire process is fully manual.  Charcoal briquette may be the main product of the manufacturing process, but they do have a by-product that they call “liquid smoke.”  How is this produced?

In a burning cylinder (drum) they load coconut husks of about 20 coconuts.  On a short spout on top of the drum is fitted a bamboo pipe where the smoke escapes.  

As the smoke is hot it also produces steam, which condenses as the smoke is forced all the way to the tip of the bamboo pole.  In the process, the condensed steam flows back down and goes into a container, such as a plastic bottle.  For each loading of the burner (husks from some 20 pieces of coconuts), they’re able to harvest one liter of liquid from the smoke steam, which they call “liquid smoke.”  According to the cooperative members, the “liquid smoke” has interesting uses, like a deodorant that can neutralize the stink from piggeries, organic fertilizer, and the like.  The operators of the charcoal briquetting project claim, too, that dried husk of young coconut produce more “liquid smoke.”  The members of the Kapit Bahayan Cooperative are lucky because they get assistance from three sectors: the GK, the Department of Agriculture, and the Office of the Mayor of Tiaong.

From Bgy. Ayusan, we proceeded to Bgy. San Pedro to have a quick look at Lake Tikub, a small crater lake (about 49 has.).  The lake doesn’t have an outlet, and it doesn’t have  watershed area either.  From the rim of the lake, one could see a steep drop, from about 75-90 degrees.  There are only a few large trees but the steep slope is full of bushes.  The LGU of Tiaong is undertaking a project to develop this lake as a premier tourist attraction of the municipal government.  This place really has great potentials as tourist destination.  My personal bias is to construct a two-lane circumferential road on top of the ridge around the lake (the inner lane could be bikers’ lane, while the outer lane could be for four-wheel vehicles.  Buses, however, shouldn’t be allowed on this circumferential road.  Additionally, when bikers and joggers wish to take a quick deep in the lake, then they should be able to go down the lake, either through stairs, or a sloping road that  undulates through the slopes of Tikub Lake.  For each quarter distance around the lake should be an asphalt road winding down to the lake so that there would be four primary access to the lake itself.  These winding roads should be passable by four wheel vehicles, provided by the Tourism Council of Tiaong.  This means that all vehicles ferrying visitors shall have to park in parking places constructed around the perimeter road on the rim of Lake Tikub.  Big vehicles like buses should not be permitted to go down the lake.

We then proceeded to Bgy. Lumingon to see the facility on top of a hill and what residents call The White House.  It’s a private dwelling comprised of many buildings appropriately arranged and constructed on top of a hill overlooking some 50 hectares of private property, as well as the town of Tiaong.  I understand that the owner wants this property to be further developed as an agri-tourism destination.  For now, there are plans to develop the surrounding slopes for agroforestry purposes.  We had lunch in the White House.  Well, sort of because we had brought with us packed lunch.  However, meals could be served if arrangements are made ahead of time.  The place is windy and all rooms are filled with art pieces executed by the owner of the place.

From The White House, we proceeded to Ugu Bigyan’s pottery plant in Bgy. Lusacan.  That’s my first time to visit Ugu’s pottery plant, and it’s impressive in terms of it being sprawling, comprised, as well, of different buildings with sparse walls and with lots of trees.  I enjoyed interviewing one of the potters there about making clay pots, tempering those pots, drying them and finally glazing them so that they would be glossy.

The last place we visited was the RHB Resort in Bgy. Cabay.  This resort is along the highway leading to Laia Beech in San Juan, Batangas, quite remote but once inside one sees a beautiful garden resort.  It has five buildings each one with two double rooms.  There are also building quarters for families.  It has a decent sized pavilion, a couple of swimming pools for adults and kids.  The house of the owner is on a separate compound adjoining the resort.  This resort appears to be an excellent place for small-group workshops and meetings.

There were still many places to see, but we’ll visit those places another day.

Old Landmarks, New Landmarks at UPLB and Los Baños

Perhaps one of the most popular landmarks of the then UPCA was its gate, distinctive because of the heads of carabaos atop each of two concrete tower-posts, as well as the farmer-and-carabao statue.  In the mid-60s these were moved back to where they are now, the UPLB Alumni Plaza.   

Today, the UPLB Gate has two tower-posts with mosaic artworks depicting the scientific and educational programs of UPLB.

 In 1934, this was how the Royal Palm Drive looked like (view from the UPCA Gate).  The building on the left side of the picture was the Department of Plant Pathology (DPP) building.  







Today, the Royal Palm Drive look like this.  The building on the spot where the DPP used to stand is the UPLB Administration building.  Last year, the Offices of the Chancellor and Vice Chancellors transferred to the third floor of the UPLB Library.  The Office of the Dean, College of Agriculture, has moved in to the former Office of the UPLB Chancellor.  

This building was UPCA’s Library of past years.  It hasn’t changed much, except that it’s now known as the UPLB College of Arts and Sciences Building, housing the CAS Dean’s Office and the Department of Humanities.  The basement of this building used to house the College Post Office, the Farm and Home Development Office (precursor of the OVCRE), and the then Department of Agricultural Information and Communication (precursor of the College of Development Communication).

This is now the Department of Citizen Military Training (which used to be Department of Military Science and Tactics when ROTC was still required), but this used to be the UPCA Infirmary.  Behind this building is the famous Baker Hall, which used to house the then Department of Military Science and Tactics of UPCA.

 
This is how the present UPLB Health Services 
look like.

The building to the left used to be known as the Farm Management Building of UPCA that housed farm machines and implements.

Today, it houses the UPLB Station of PhilRice (right).  They have added a couple of new buildings (buildings at left and right of pix).

UPCA students in the first years of the College built their own residences (right).  









Today (picture below), UPLB has this row of dormitories (Women’s Dorm to the right, Veterinary Dorm at center in the background, and Coed Dorm at left. the Men’s Dorm (not shown) is located to the left of the Coed Dorm building).

This (right) was the old St. Therese Chapel.  In the 70’s the new chapel was constructed and the picture below shows how it looks today with its new bell tower.  The old Chapel is still there (right side of picture below).

 The Azkals may have popularized soccer in the Philippines, but in 1930, UPCA already had its own soccer team.

Quite possibly this might have been the precursor
of the bottled water industry in the country.  

 In the 1930s, there was a bottled water plant in Los Baños, called ISUAN.

This was the Calamba-Los Baños Road in 1915, view from Calamba Crossing.  There were only Kalesas then and certainly there was no traffic jam on the 15-km stretch.  Today, the distance from Calamba Crossing, through Lecheria, Bucal, and until Pansol is completely filled with both residential and commercial buildings.  This road, connecting Calamba and Los Baños now takes, on the average, about an hour to negotiate due to heavy traffic on a daily basis.  We used to traverse this by jeepney in the 60s for only 15 minutes.

In the late 1970s and early 1980s, fish cages and fish pens became popular in Laguna de Bay.  I recall having hosted a radio program for fish cage and fish pen operators and caretakers called ORAS NG MANGINGISDA over Radio DZLB, the rural educational radio station of UPLB.  That program promoted use of fish cages and fish pens which were then new technologies from the Fisheries Commission (precursor of today’s BFAR).  In the coastal area of Mayondon was a place known then as Malakoko Beach, where UPCA students used to swim and picnic up until the very early 60s.  This picture shows old fishpens in the Mayondon area.  They contributed largely to the pollution of the waters in that place.  Those fish pens aren’t there anymore, but the waters have continued to become dirtier and dirtier.  At the Mayondon point, in the early 60s waters there used to be as deep as 2 meters and the bottom was all sand.  Today, the water is no more than one meter deep and the silt is at least 1.5 meters deep.  The water color is dark brown.

UPCA Revisited (Part 2)

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.)

UPCA Revisited (Part 1)

In our entry on 1^st February, titled Down Nostalgia Lane, we talked about how we chanced upon the script of the first and only multimedia production about the history of the UPCA done in 1984.  Reviewing that script, we unearthed again pieces of information many have forgotten but remain part of rich history.  I’d like to revisit the script and share with you what those historical footnotes are.

Perhaps all UPLB alumni and students know that UP was founded in 1909, but one wonders if any one knows that the exact date of the foundation of UP was March 6, 1909, and the date that UPCA (now UPLB) was founded on June 14, 1909.  UPCA alumni, of course, know by heart that the first four faculty members (Americans) and 12 Filipino students had their first class in October 1909 in tents at Camp Eldridge in Los Baños.  When the UPCA got its first building later, that building housed everything from classrooms, to offices, to tool shed, and even a post office.  One should no longer wonder where the postal address “College, Laguna” started.   Of course, this particular postal address has always been an irritant between UPLB and the town of Los Baños.

The following year, in 1910, the first four-year curricular program in agriculture was put in place at UPCA, together with the two-year program called “Forest Ranger” course.  Those were hard times for the first students under the BSA program.  During days of classes, they had to clear the forest and grassland to prepare land for crop experiments.  Usually, these same students would fetch water for household use, do their laundry, and take their weekly bath at Molawin Creek.  It is said that students subsisted on penoy for breakfast, lunch, and supper for months on ends.  Even in those times, students found it usually difficult to find a place to stay.

The first graduates of UPCA finished their BSA program and graduated in 1911.  They were Manuel Roxas, Clodualdo Tempongco, and Jose Zamora.  Two years later in 1913, Manuel Roxas finished his MS degree and became the first MS graduate of UPCA.  It was also in 1913 that the Student Body Organization at UPCA was organized.   In 1917, eight years after its establishment, the UPCA had 500 students, six academic buildings and various agricultural experiments going on.  It was time also for Dean Copeland to retire.  Dean Charles Fuller Baker became the second UPCA Dean, from whom one of the later buildings of UPCA was named after (Baker Hall).  The following year, 1918, after a speech by Laguna’s military commander, Gen. Gailles, the faculty and studentry of UPCA volunteered en masse on October 10 to fight for freedom and democracy in WWI in Europe.  The volunteers never got to Europe as the war ended before they could be transported, but October became what, for a long time, was known as Los Baños Loyalty Day, the birth of the Los Baños Spirit.

The UPCA Administration Bldg. was located right where the UPLB Library (and current Office of the UPLB Chancellor) stands today.  We used to call this, The Hill. 

Loyalty Day celebrations were made much more popular with the Loyalty Day Ball.  Coeds from UP's Padre Faura campus and other Manila-based universities were invited to Los Banos as special guests during the Loyalty Day Ball.











By 1921, five females enrolled at UPCA, One of them, Mamerta Manahan, even got elected later on as President of the UPCA Student Body Organization.  That time, too, UPCA admitted the first four foreign students from China, Indonesia, India, and Thailand.

Because of the Los Baños Spirit, UPCA Alumni began trooping back to Los Baños every October 10^th to renew their allegiance to UPCA.  One such alumnus was Joaquin J. Gonzales (class 1919), who upon coming back to celebrate the Loyalty Day in 1925, promised to give a medal, for eternity, to the UPCA graduate with the highest GPA.  Until today, the Joaquin J. Gonzales medal remains the most coveted medal for all aggie graduates.

Dean Baker died on July 22, 1927 at age 55.  He was succeeded by Dr. Bienvenido Ma.
Gonzales, an animal scientist who was a student of Dean Copeland.  During the deanship of Gonzales, UPCA became known for its scientific endeavors.  The animal scientists of UPCA developed the Bekjala swine,  Philamin (cattle breed), and the Los Baños Cantonese chicken.  To promote excellence in research, the Los Baños Biological Club was also born.  Many Filipino members of this Club also became members of the prestigious American Men of Science.  At about this time, too, the UPCA constructed its Main Gate, which became a significant marker until today.  The Gate, by the way, was a donation of the entire UP studentry that time.

The old UPCA Gate (right pix).

Dean Gonzales was known as a disciplinarian and absolutely strict when it came to academic and professional performance.  He was, indeed, quoted as having said, “I want every product of this College, whether it be a student, a plant, a domestic animal, or a scientific paper, to bear a mark similar to that of sterling on silver.”  It was also during the time of Dean Gonzales when UPCA graduated its first alumna, Ms. Victoria Mendiola, who became the first Filipina plant pathologist of the country.  At about that time, UPCA had 822 students, 88 faculty members, 369 has. of land, 61 buildings, 130 courses offered, a library with 7,000 volumes of holdings, and many more resources.

Dean Gonzales left UPCA to become the first Filipino scientist to be appointed President of the University of the Philippines on April 20, 1938.  Dean Leopoldo Uichangco took over the Deanship of UPCA.  It was Uichangco’s time when WWII broke out and Baker Hall became the Concentration Camp of the Japanese Imperial Army, holding the American Faculty of UPCA as prisoners of war from Christmas 1941 until September 1942.  Dean Uichangco was held prisoner and even charged as protector of Americans who were considered enemies.  Many at UPCA thought Uichangco was siding with the Japanese so not a few were surprised when the Japanese held him prisoner and gave him a death sentence.  Lucky Uichangco was because there were individuals close to the Japanese military who interceded so that instead of having Uichangco put to death he was just removed from office.  The Japanese Army installed Dr. Fancisco O. Santos as UPCA Dean, but after the war Dean Uichangco took over again the UPCA Deanship.

When Uichangco inspected the campus on April 4, 1945, he found UPCA completely devastated.  Only three buildings were left standing and 180 books were recovered out of 20,000.  But after WWII, UPCA reopened still.  Nineteen professors reported for work and 119 students enrolled.  Between 1942 and 1946, UPCA even managed to graduate some 51 individuals, one of whom was the first summa cum laude from UPCA, Obdulia Fronda.

Between 1948 and 1954, UPCA greenhorms (new entrants or freshmen) couldn’t avoid what could have been the most pervasive hazing in those times – the mandatory wearing of skull caps among freshmen.  No freshman could ever be on campus without the skull cap.  Upperclassmen were not required to wear skull caps.  Soon after, more events transpired on campus, including the famous rodeo.  Around that time, UPCA already had some 4,000 students for a student-faculty ratio of 22:1.

(To be continued.  Meantime, drop me a note at: flibrero@upou.edu.ph)

Down Nostalgia Lane

 

A few days ago, as I was unmindfully going through my bookshelf in the office, trying to clean up and to rearrange my books and collection of what before I thought were important papers that I should preserve, I happened to pull out an old booklet with faded  cartolina cover.  It turned out to be the final script of a multimedia presentation on June 14, 1984 about the history of UPCA, which turned 75 years old in that year.

I was then a young PhD looking for additional assignments on the side, even one that was remotely related to my PhD specialization (instructional systems technology), when then UPLBCA Dean Cled Perez asked me in mid-April 1984 (graduation month) to organize a presentation for the 75^th Anniversary of the College of Agriculture.  Armed with enthusiasm, I designated myself as the over-all coordinator of the project (focusing on conceptualizing the presentation, directing the research, producing the script, and putting together the entire production including casting), and coopting young faculty members of the then Department of Development Communication (in the person of Maricel Cadiz, Sandy Flor and Ning Matulac) to assist me.  I asked Cel Cadiz to help me out in some parts of the script, while Sandy and Ning assisted in putting together the entire production. 

My concept of the presentation was based on the knowledge that in previous years all presentations were invariably photo-exhibits depicting important events in the life of the UPCA.  I thought a stage presentation was appropriate, but I never knew anything about theatre productions.  So I decided that a multimedia presentation might be a novel idea (mixture of stage acting or pantomine and use of projected visuals on the upper portion of screen that also serves as stage backdrop).  This called for an intricate lighting system because what were to be projected on the screen needed to be visible together with performers on the stage.

To get more people from the College of Agriculture involved, I requested Dean Perez to issue an Administrative Order assigning roles to selected people from various departments of the CA.  Between the time we completed the script and casting for the presentation, and June 14, 1984, the Anniversary Day of the CA, we had four weeks to get prepared for a once-in-a-lifetime presentation.  Indeed, that was the first and only multimedia presentation about the history of the UPLBCA until today. 

The production was staged at the Umali Auditorium, and we used fabricated stage props.  In those times, our most advanced visual effects system comprised of an old slide projector.  The stage presentation, therefore, was a mixture of pantomines, projected artworks and color slides, manually but creatively prepared sound effects, including lively narration.  Lighting effects (timing, especially) were crucial in the appreciation of the stage presentation, so I took control of the lighting system.  As it was a stage presentation designed to inform, educate, and entertain the audience, we selected our scenes and lines carefully. 

The presentation was not perfect.  In fact, there were a lot of miscues and mistakes, but all these were essentially considered by the audience as “intentional errors” and were widely appreciated and applaused.

I knew we needed to be symbolic and creative in our production because certain episodes in the history of the UPCA were difficult to dramatize quickly.  For example, to start the presentation we used a series of six color slides showing the UP Seal becoming bigger and bigger on the screen then dissolved to an artwork showing the date “March 6, 1909” which was the date of the legal document creating UP, then dissolved to what looked like a legal document transcription, and with the following narration: “Through the consensus of the Board of Regents of the University of the Philippines, I hereby proclaim the establishment of the College of Agriculture as the third unit of this university.  Dr. Edwin Bingham Copeland, the American botanist, shall be responsible for finding the appropriate location for the College of Agriculture.”  This was the start of everything that transpired in the UPCA.

The presentation, the first and only multimedia presentation about the history of UPCA, was an intricate flow of events woven in a story which I referred to as the “Story Behind the History.”  Reliving the first 75 years of UPCA through this script is melancholic for us who experienced that part of the College’s history.  This production was really amateurish (we were) but it turned out to be entertaining, even educational.  What set the mood of the audience during the presentation was the disclaimer which was projected on the large screen at the beginning: “THIS IS A TRUE STORY.  THE NAMES OF THE CHARACTERS ARE NOT DISGUISED.  ANY SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE EVENTS PORTRAYED IN THIS PRESENTATION AND EVENTS THAT REALLY HAPPENED IS INTENDED.”

In general, this was how our story flowed: we related the story of how the UPCA got established and how the first faculty members and students lived in those times, tracing the flow of events through the years, including during the Second World War, and the rise of student activism, until the 1980s when academic programs were being re-strengthened.  What got me interested at the end of the script was how I focused on what the UPCA could become after 25 more years, so here is the scene depicting the year 2009 at the College of Agriculture of UPLB (remember, this was conceived in 1984).

Seen on stage: Lights on.  Three students (one male, two female) enter from right.  They wear nationalistic type clothes, simple and practical.  One (female) listening to a walkman, male with computer printouts and conferring to the other woman student.

Heard (narration):  Ah, eto na siguro ang mga estubyante,  Mukhang bigatin!  Computer exercises na raw and kanilang ginagawa sa animal breeding courses.  Yung isa, mukhang nakikinig sa pop music.  Pero sa totoo, ang pinakikinggan niya ay yung listening assignment sa horticulture.  Hindi lamang mga aklat ang ginagamit ngayon, multimedia presentation na ngayon ang uso.  Kasama rito ang computers, video recordings, at iba pang makabagong pamamaraan ng pagtuturo.

Fast forward to  (what’s seen):  Dissolve to extension scene.  Farmer in clean polo shirt, with shoes.  Extensionist in barong.  Farmer shows his farm journal, they talk.  Lights out.

The accompanying sound (male voice, “voice” of the Dean in 2009):  One thing remains certain.  The College of Agriculture exerts its best to remain sensitive and responsive to the needs, problems and aspirations of our people.

Visiting the script again, I see very extensive use of symbolism.  For example, in the end scene where the script refers to a group of students (1 male and 2 female) was symbolic of the larger proportion of female students at UPLB not only in 2009 but until today.  There’s a lot of this symbolism in the entire script.

Unfortunately, a similar production wasn’t prepared in 2009.  In fact, I think this idea which was supposed to have been established in 1984 was completely forgotten.  Well, even those involved in the production in 1984 apparently forgot to recall that another multimedia presentation was due in 2009 (25 years after).  That production could’ve been fantastic given new ways of doing multimedia productions then.

Got an idea, though!  How about a devcom student or group of devcom students doing a sequel for the UPLB College of Agriculture?  Or perhaps do a similar production for the College of Development Communication!  Should be a good project for the student organizations of devcom, part of their cultural projects for presentation during the anniversary of the CDC.

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