A second term

There’s a race for the deanship of the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture, but a number of well-placed persons would like the present dean to continue at the post on account of her qualifications, determination and enthusiasm to have the college maintain its being a Center of Excellence in undergraduate and postgraduate agriculture education. This is Candida B. Adalla, Ph.D., who is finishing her term as the 13th and first woman dean of the college.

In her end of term report (July 2002-June 2005), Adalla, with understandable pride, noted that the college continues to contribute to the pool of agricultural experts in the country. It graduates on the average, 181 top caliber men and women ready to contribute to national development, and have topped the board exams for agriculturists.

In the areas of research, extension and income generation, for the period 2002 to 2005, 273 projects were implemented; these addressed various concerns in agriculture and food and the use of modern biotechnology in crop and animal improvement.

The college’s banner extension program, the Farmer Scientist Program (FSTP), continues to create an impact on its project sites, raising the productivity of the area particularly in corn production.

A great source of pride is the "clustering" or putting together of all related-units to form a cluster – a process began by former deans Cecilio Arboleda and Luis Ray Velasco, now UPLB chancellor. The institute of plant breeding is now clustered up with the divisions of agriculture, horticulture and part of the post-harvest research and training center. Clustered are crop science, crop protection, food science, animal and dairy science, and the agri-system cluster, which put together the departments of education and extension, and soil science and farming systems and research institute. "Clustering," according to Adalla, "is done to put things in a holistic perspective so problems are analyzed as a multi-disciplinary effort."

The challenge for Adalla during her first time was to convince the college constituents of the efficacy of clustering. "There was so much resistance from our constituents, but after some discussions and coercion, we were able to come to a consensus."

Her second term, if she is reappointed (she has to be recommended by UP President Emerlinda Roman to the Board of Regents), will be spent on the full implementation of the reorganization program.

Then there is the Agri-Park, a five-hectare "one-stop shop" for products, services and technologies offered by the college. These include dairy products (white cheese, milk butter, etc.), varieties of corn, vegetables and ornamentals, and fruit wines.

The Agri-Park is important, says the dean. "It disproves some sectors’ perception that the college has no technologies for agricultural development because they don’t see anything on the ground. But in reality we have a lot, as will be shown in the park."

To attract tourists and families, the park will also have a zoo (for animals used for pets), a butterfly garden (which will, however, be a caged garden), and culinary and medicinal herb gardens.

The dean was able to secure a P5-million grant from the Department of Agriculture to have it implemented. The money is in good hands, as it is managed by the UPLB Foundation. "We can’t touch the money for any other project except for the Agri-Park," she says.

A third project during her second term is the construction of a P20-million building for the college. Ironically, the dean’s office is inside the college of communication. Fund-raising will be a major concern. If the 20,000 college alumni donated P5,500 each, the P20-million could easily be raised. So far, only P100,000 has been contributed.

Adalla, 55, took her bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, major in entomology.

There are 11,000 students at the college at a given time, she says. Majority of the students are enrolled in animal science and crop science. When she was a student, she recalls, out of 35 students enrolled in the college were men, and only five were women. But now the stereotyping (that agriculture is for men) is gone; in fact more than 50 percent of students are women.

The Philippines is still an agricultural country, she says, but the technologies being taught at the college are geared towards global competition.

The dean has not created any blunder during her term. She has worked to fulfill the college vision and mission. If somebody is placed in her post (there are two male contenders), he will have to learn what she is prepared to do in the next three years.

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From agriculture, we go to the world of fashion, and we go to Vida Doria’s world. Vida Valentina Fernandez Doria was born Feb. 14, 1950 in Binmaley, Pangasinan to Bonifacio Doria, a lawyer who rose to become a judge, and Feliza Fernandez, a math teacher who later became a public high school principal. It was in their home that Vida’s love affair with the sewing machine began. By observing and helping her mother make all their clothes (she is the fifth in a brood of eight), she eventually learned how to repair – and alter the hand-me-downs from her sister, who was nine years older. In high school, she made sketches of her teachers’ clothes and had a costurera copy them.

While this passion for clothes brewed and simmered slowly, other things were happening as well – and more quickly. Studying broadcast communications in UP Diliman, she was chosen as one of the "Charms" featured in the college yearbook in 1969 and became a part of the UP Corps of Sponsors a year after that. That same year, she was discovered as the new Camay girl. And in 1971, she was crowned Bb. Pilipinas Universe (and went on to win as Most Photogenic in the Miss Universe pageant).

Part of her prize was a Singer sewing machine, and from then on, there was no looking back. In 1972, a year after graduation, she married boyfriend Camilo Legaspi, who was then a dealer of – you guessed it – Singer sewing machines. Her fashion designing career began when she displayed a mannequin wearing her design. Somebody bought the dress. Then another design was bought by another. Pretty soon, Vida’s clothes were selling faster than her husband’s machines.

She formalized her training by taking classes in design, cutting and sewing. As she began to build a customer base, RTW clothes began to pick up, and she quickly hopped onto the bandwagon. While her husband oversaw the operations and marketing aspects of the business, she was in charge of the creative side, from designing to picking the fabrics to quality control. Vida’s clothes are feminine, romantic, tasteful, lasting and classy. Vida proudly declares that her designs are those she herself would wear. Her clothes are sold in her shops at Glorietta 1 Ayala Center, SM Megamall Bldg. A., and SM City North EDSA malls, not to mention the stand-alone boutique in the UP Village, where made-to-order clothes are available. Vida has expanded with the men’s line, Inaro, which is managed by her second son Carlo Andrew, who also serves as marketing manager. Her only daughter, Kitty, who is a third year management student at the Ateneo de Manila, is raring to get into the family business. Vida began at age 21; at 55, she’s still designing.

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