What’s up at the UP

No more vigorous thrust has been held to promote the image of the University of the Philippines than now. There is a flurry of celebratory activities on the occasion of the election of Dr. Emerlinda R. Roman, who became the 19th president of the UP system. She is the first woman to hold the post, and she enjoys the distinction of being the centennial president, as UP will celebrate its 100 years of existence in 2008. She will be installed to office in July.

It is in connection with UP’s centennial celebration that administrators, deans, and alumni are mapping out plans to raise funds to give back to the university the honor and glory that might have diminished with the successes (resources and infrastructure-wise) of competing private universities.

One of the first promotional activities held was with members of the media last week. A nice lunch was set up at the Executive House, where the UP presidents stay. College heads were present – most of them women, and the music school dean, Dr. Acuyno and Dr. Sergio S. Cao, chancellor of the UP Diliman campus, sang to further enliven the occasion.

Press releases and campus publications told of activities in the UP system which hardly find their way to the media outlets. This, Dr. Roman noted in her brief spiel.

Most of bad things about UP and other campuses do get into the papers only when a student is victimized in frat hazings, and some such sad happenings. Dr. Roman admitted that the UP has lost some of its professors to private institutions. The highest that a UP Ph.D. holder could get is P30,000 a month, while that at Ateneo or De la Salle, P90,000. What a difference. Be that as it may, there are those who decide to stick it out in the university, obviously for the prestige and honor bestowed by a public awed by the quality education they can share with students who, by the way, can enter the UP only after passing a rigid college entry test.

Among the press releases handed out to us was a list of 2005’s alumni awards. Most distinguished alumni are Supreme Court Justice Hilario G. Davide, Jr. and. Solita Collas-Monsod. The awards, UPAA President and chair of the awards committee Jaime delos Santos, are given to the two "for the mark they have made for their service to country and its people."

Lifetime Distinguished Achievement Awards will be conferred to Engr. David M. Consunji and Dr. Thelma Navarette-Clemente .

Other professional awardees are Dr. Azucena L. Carpena, Dr. Paulino Zafaralla, Mercedes Tan-Gotianun, Engr. Claudio B. Altura, Ruben David F. Defeo, Dr. Liberato V. Laureta, Eduardo V. Manalac, Pacita U. Juan, Dr. Augusto D. Litonjua, Dr. Benito O. de Lumen, Dr. Teofilo Abrajano, Jr., Dr. Fely Marilyn Elegado-Lorenzo, and Dr. Lydia Calcena-Mangahas.

The Community Service Award (national) is given to Dr. Adolfo Bellosillo,

And for Luzon, Dr. Abundio Palencia Sr. The UPAA Service Award is given to Eduardo F. Hernandes, and the special Recognition Award to Engr. Henry Lim Bon Liong.

The UPAA Presidential Award (posthumous) is conferred to Dr. Raymundo Punongbayan.

The awarding ceremonies will be held at the 92nd UPAA general homecoming on June 25 at the Bahay ng Alumni, UP Diliman.

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An interesting U.P. Alumni Council-sponsored activity on Friday, June 24, from 730- a.m. to 12:30 p.m. will be a seminar around the theme, "The Filipino Diaspora." Labor Secretary Patricia Sto. Tomas will give an "Overview of the Philippine Labor Situation." Dr. Maruja Asis, director of research and publications at the Scalabrini Migration Center, will discuss "The Sociocultural implications of Working Overseas," while U.P. Manila Vice-Chancellor Jaime Galvez-Tan will focus on "The Brain Drain Phenomenon and Its Implications for Health." The discussions will be held at Ang Bahay ng Alumni, UP, Diliman.

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Upon the invitation of my cousin Chona Estella McDonald of Tampa, Florida, I visited Cawayan, Masbate for the first time. Chona’s folks, Ildefonso and Pren Estella, were there to regale us with stories about the Maristelas (Pren is a sister of my late mother Corazon).

Chona’s brother, Jun-Jun, took us to the municipal hall to meet the town mayor, Ramon Abinuman. A commerce graduate of Lyceum in Manila, the mayor was the Philippine Congress cashier from 1962-72, then from 1972-79, he ran a small restaurant in Ermita. The late President Ferdinand Marcos appointed him to the Cawayan mayoral post in 1979. He was elected for the term 1980-86, and ran again and was reelected in 1998. He ran unopposed in 2004 under Lakas-Christian Muslim Democrats.

The province of Masbate is quite notorious for bloody vendettas among political families, but Cawayan has been a safe political haven. Except in July, 1986, when a gunman attempted to assassinate him, at close range. The mayor was able to push down the man’s firearm, deflecting the bullets to his right foot which was completely shattered. His bodyguard was fired at, but the bullet only went through his cheeks. The mayor sports an artificial leg, but his determination to make something of Cawayan has become even stronger.

Cawayan is one of 28 towns in Masbate, and has a population of 59,000 scattered on 7 island barangays. Its roads are cemented – thanks to the mayor’s efforts – which makes travel to the city of Masbate faster. Cawayan’s marine resources are plentiful, in fact 60 per cent of fish shipped for processing to Cebu are from Cawayan’s coastal waters. The town’s electric power is so unstable (when we were there, we had electricity for only four hours – at night, too), that companies are forced to process the fish elsewhere. A few enterprises and households have their own electric generators, lighting up some parts of town. So there are no internet cafes, no emails, no cybersex in the town.

The mayor has been able to built a number of buildings – the civil registrar’s office, an engineering building, a senior citizens’ building, a student-youth development center, the executive building, and a sports complex. "Our development plan calls for the improvement of the water system," said the mayor, who has a reputation of good, honest service, "but I’ll not promise power. That is a problem that has to be solved between Napocor and the local electric cooperative."

He is proud of the fact that drug distribution in the town has been minimized 90 per cent through the cooperation of residents and the police force. There is no jueteng in his town, but tupada (cockfighting) is allowed during fiestas. He added to his list of his office’s accomplishments, the relocation of squatters to a one-hectare area. "This is a first in Masbate," he said.

He said, as if in afterthought, that if Masbate were made part of the Nautical Highway, development will come to Cawayan faster.

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