Silliman’s Top 10 for 2006

For the last many years, I have been writing about the Outstanding Silliman Awardees, and my task is always made difficult by having to compress the many accom-plishments of the awardees. Today’s column can only mention a few of the things that the awardees have done to make their alma mater and co-alumni proud. .

Evelyn Nombrado Abad, awardee for Humanitarian Services, BSN, class ’60, pursued post-graduate studies in surgical technique and management then worked in hospitals in Massachusetts and San Francisco. After her retirement, she became mission coordinator and head nurse for ROTAPLAST International Inc. (Rotary International Medical Missions), an organization which seeks to correct facial deformities such as cleft conditions. As a fulltime volunteer, she handles the recruitment and coordination of medical volunteers for 15 missions that Rotaplast sent our worldwide annually. She was named 2001 Rotaplast Volunteer of the Year as well as Outstanding Volunteer of the Month for July 2002.

Sylvestre B. Almiron, for Community Service, studied biology at Silliman in 1963, and finished the medical course at the UERM Medical Center in Quezon City. As a student he initiated medical missions to squatters in Sapang Palay, Tondo, and Bulacan, and as a medical practitioner, organized a medical rescue team to assist victims during a deluge in Baguio City. To help Silliman, while chair of the SU Alumni Council of North America, he obtained a tax-exempt status for the organization to enable alumni and friends to donate to their alma mater. He has initiatedthe Tree of Life project that raises funds from alumni from different parts of the world to finance the construction of the twin Portal buildings on the Silliman campus. In 19999, the SU Campus Choristers performed concerts in the US through the generosity of the Rockland Centennial Lions Club that was founded by Dr Almiron.

Filomena Tan-Cang (SU High School, ’48) is the first Christian Business Management awardee. As a Christian businesswoman (she and her husband Agapito put up the successful retail store Dumaguete General Supply and Cang’s Trading, and recently, the now famous Bethel House where liquor and cigarettes are not allowed), she is an inspirational figure in the workplace and in her church. She was a Silliman trustee for two terms. She provided scholarships and financial grants for qualified students. When the Silliman University Medical Center was in deep financial crisis, she traveled to campaign for hospital funds from Sillimanians in the US, and the United Board for Christian Higher Education for funds. The SUMC Women’s Auxiliary Service Award went to her in 1985, and recently, the SUMC Foundation’s Golden Service Award in 2005.

Gonzalo O. Catan Jr., awardee for Science and Technology, A.A, class ’57, U.P.L.B. for his BS in agriculture, major in entomology and chemistry, ’59), is a prolific inventor, scientists, and entrepreneur. He is the founder and executive vice president of MAPECON Philippines and MAPECON Green Charcoal Philippines, two companies that employ more than 400 people, and have 36 branches nationwide.

Started in 1961 with a capital of only P400, MAPECON is now the country’s largest pest control business, with operations extending throughout Southeast Asia and the U.S.

Catan’s numerous awards include the Most Outstanding Entomologist by the Philippine Association of Entomologists. In 1975 he was one of Ten Outstanding Young Men and was given the Masikap Award by Ayala Corporation. The Department of Science and Technology honored him as Most Outstanding Inventor with a Presidential Medal in 1994, and the next year, the Philipine Jaycees gave him the Top Filipino Award in Science and Technology, and in 1998, DOST once more gave him its Invention and Commercialization Award.

His international awards include those given at the 24th International Exhibitions of Inventions, New Techniques, and Products in Geneva, and the bronze medal by FI-TEX for patented, synergized, bioacativated, and natural insect growth regulator and termiticide insecticide.

LEONCIO P. DERIADA is the 2006 awardee for Creative Writing. He was the first to earn a doctorate degree in English and Literature with creative writing as his specialization, at Silliman. Upon graduation, he became chair of Silliman’s Department of English and Literature, from 1979 to 1985.

He won two Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, and also two from Focus Magazine. His play, "Matigam Kaw, Matigam Ak," was produced and performed by Silliman’s Hijos de Davao Organization, and won a national award at the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Since then, Deriada has been winning awards for his poetry, fiction and plays. He won the National Book Award for his novel, People on Guerrero Street from the Manila Critics Circle.

To date he has won 13 Palancas, and is thus included in the Palanca Hall of Fame. He has published eight books, and edited eight anthologies, most of which are on Western Visayan literature. He is the only Palanca winner to win literary pieces written in English, Filipino and Hiligaynon.

He has made literary history by motivating Kinray-a and Aklanon speakers to write in their respective marginalized languages. He has been awarded the University of the Philippines Creative Work Award, the Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Achievements in Creative Work, the Gawad Alagad ni Balagtas, and the Gawad Lope K. Santos Award.

Isaias P. Dicdican, awardee for Government Service (Judiciary), finished his BA, in 1966, and the law course at the University of San Carlos in Cebu City, also magna cm laude. He handled pro bono cases for indigent litigants and became legal counsel of the Federation of Free Farmers in Surigao del Norte. In 2003 the Crusade Against Violence awarded him a certificate of recognition for his pursuit of truth and justice.

He was appointed as presiding judge in the Regional Trial Court, 7th Judicial Region, then as first vice-executive judge in the RTC branches in Cebu City. In 2003, the Integrated Bar of the Philippines of Cebu City awarded him a Presidential Plaque of Appreciation, and the Philippine Judges Association did the same, after his appointment as Associate Justice of the Court of Appeals in 2004.

Alexander G. Flor, awardee for Communication and Distance Learning, obtained his BA major in journalism in 1975. He currently works as adjunct professor of the Knowledge Science and Technology Institute in Honolulu, Hawaii, and professor and dean of the faculty of information and communication studies of the UP Open University. He is listed in the 1998 International Who’s Who in Distance Learning, and in the millennium edition of the International Futurists Directory.

He has worked in executive capacities with international organizations.

And developed and designed four graduate/under-graduate courses on distance learning, knowledge management, and ethnovideorapy, developed and designed the first formal course on environmental communication in Asia, and authored 17 books on communication develop-ment.

Amiel Y. Leonardia, awardee for theater arts, BA, ’61. In 1963, he was the artistic director of the Laramie Melodrama Theater in the U.S., then stage manager for the Honolulu Symphony Society productions of Carmen and The Barber of Seville, and technical director and scene designer for Green Mansions Theater in New York in 1965.

Returning to the Philippines, he worked with ABS-CBN while teaching communication arts at Ateneo de Manila. He returned to Silliman in 1974 as theater consultant and technical director of the Claire Isabel McGill Luce Audi-torium, whose technical equipment he improved. He reached out to the local communiity when he organized the Portal Payers, a community theater group which performed in Dumaguete City, Cebu, Bacolod, and Cagayan de Oro.

Back in Manila in 1980, he was technical director for the Manila Metropolitan theater, and the Dulaang U.P., and artistic director of the Met Dalubdulaan Theater. His involvement with the U.P. included being Artist-in-Residence for State Design, and teaching in its Department of Speech Communication and Theater Arts, and becoming chair in 1996 up to 2004.

In his career as an actor, he has played most of the best roles available, acting in more than 70 plays, television shows, commercials, and even movies.

He has directed plays for Dulaang U.P. and a total of 22 plays at Silliman, where he lectured in the 1974 and 1975 Silliman National Summer Writers workshop established by National Artist for Literature, Edith Lopez Tiempo. In 2000, the U.P. gave him the Gawad Chancellor Award for Outstanding Work as Theater Artist.

Diblerto D.Redona, awardee for rice research and development, finished agriculture in 1975. His grandmother was one of the first planters of "miracle rice" seeds. So from the very beginning, the love of growing and harvesting rice was ingrained in his consciousness. In high school he operated a local rice mill for extra allowance.

At Silliman, he obtained his BS in agriculture, magna cum laude, under a scholarship from the Philippine Coconut Producers Federation. He earned two masters degrees (breeding and genetics) at the U.P.L.B., and at the University of California in Davis, where he also earned his Ph.D. in genetics. He is now back in the Philippines, where he continues to research into producing a better variety of rice for the Filipino people.

Roman T. Yap, awardee for Business, attended Silliman High School. While studying, he was already into the buy-and-sell business, buying and selling cigarettes, clothing, and other items, waking up early every morning to sell Soyalac.

He finished his bachelor’s in chemical engineering at National University in Manila, passed the board exam, then worked as an apprentice at Central Azucarera de Bais. He rose to become president or board chair of some of the country’s biggest enterprises, including the Central Marketing Corporation in Metro Manila, Alaska Trading Company, and Makati Agro Trading. He also chairs Bayview Hotel Development Corporation and is vice-chair of General Milling Corporation.

A Lieutenant Colonel (Res. Officer), he takes great interest in community life. A member of the Silliman Board of Trustees, he is the president of the Silliman University Foundation, director and adviser of the Grand Family Association of the Philippines, and vice-president and director of the Chinese Filipino Business Club., Inc.

He has supported the programs of Silliman Church, the various academic units, and the SU-ROTC, and is behind the raising of funds for the Su Computer Center, the Angelo King Department of Medical Technology building, and the SU-Angelo King Center for Research and Environmental Management.

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