What would Rafael Salas do?

Those privileged enough to have known him speak about with him poignant remembering, the kind you hear when people talk about great leaders gone too soon – with a tinge of helpless acceptance that is almost palpable; with long pauses and heavy sighs and far-away looks filled with nostalgia.

Much of the lingering sadness comes from the belief that if he were still alive today, this nation of 114 million would certainly be in a much better place than where we are now.

Indeed, Rafael Salas, former executive secretary of Ferdinand Marcos Sr., had long passed. Thirty-six years ago, in 1987. But to this day, people still talk about him with deep sadness, and with unparalleled pride with what he had done for the Philippines and later on, for the world.

For someone to be regarded as such is rare; and not surprisingly so. Good men in government – especially now – are rare after all, as rare as fragments of the moon.

Rafael Salas would have been a great president, many say; perhaps the best president we never had.

Rice crisis

He comes to mind again now because of our current rice crisis. It was the former deputy speaker Raul Daza, reacting to my Sept. 7 column “One Hundred Years of Rice Crises,” who reminded me of the great Rafael Salas.

Daza said an exception to our crisis years were those years when Salas led the country’s rice sufficiency program from 1966 to 1969. This led to a dramatic increase in rice production, in stark contrast to the perennial shortfall that plagued the country then and now.

“I suggest that the present administration does a thorough review and an in-depth study of how Salas did it. At least, there is no harm in trying,” Daza said.

I agree. I myself wondered how Salas did it so I tried to look for articles about his stint as the country’s rice czar.

Miracle rice

A lot had to do with convincing farmers to adopt the new technology developed by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) in Los Baños. IRRI had developed rice that could be harvested three times a year instead of only once.

And what a breakthrough it was because the Philippines stopped importing rice and even started exporting it.

But more than the miracle rice technology, Salas recognized that it was people who made things work. “More than the high-yielding grains, more than technology, people make projects work,” Salas was quoted as saying in an article about his wife Carmelita Salas (Inquirer, 2016).

For the first time in history, the Philippines had a rice surplus. That was in 1968.

Rodolfo Estimo Jr., in an article in Manila Bulletin last year titled “Reimagining Rafael Salas,” said:

“On July 1, 1967, Paeng was exulting over good news from the field. ‘We have passed the first milestone with a flourish. Harvests of over 154,000 metric tons were reported from the priority provinces – and there is more to come.’”

Boy from Negros

Salas was born in Negros Occidental on Aug. 7, 1928, according to Wikipedia and other sources. After World War II, Salas went to Manila to continue his education. He obtained his BA from the University of the Philippines, Diliman, graduating magna cum laude. After UP he went to Harvard where he finished a master’s degree in public administration.

It was in 1966 when he joined the Marcos administration but resigned years later due to irreconcilable differences with Marcos. In 1969, he became the first executive director of the United Nations Fund for Population Activities (UNFPA), now known as the United Nations Population Fund.

Salas was a brilliant man and a popular and gifted leader. He believed in science-based solutions in solving problems.

Salas boys

He also recognized talent as he recruited brilliant young minds to help him in public service and later on in the United Nations.

These men came to be known as the Salas Boys.

They were, according to an article published by The Forum, Leo Quisumbing, Jerry Flores, Victor Ramos, Fulgencio Factoran, Bibit Duavit, Horacio Morales, Frankie Llaguno, Ed Soliman, Jun Aguirre, Mat Defensor, Boni Alentajan, Joe Molano, Doming Cepeda, Jimmy Yambao, Hiro Ando, Lino Ilyera, Benjamin de Leon and Violeta Drilon.

“In the words of former President Fidel V. Ramos, one of the foremost advocates of reproductive health, population and development and fellow UP high school classmate, ‘the Salas Boys were the best and the brightest.’”

So what would Salas do now to address our current rice crisis? I can’t say for sure but perhaps, he would look to science and work with the people, especially the farmers, to find solutions to the problem.

He would gather his brilliant Salas Boys and tackle the issue head on.

Indeed, Salas was an exceptional leader who knew how to work with people.

This is in stark contrast to the kind of leaders we have today. Now, we no longer see the kind of statesman-like leadership – for the people and with the people – that Salas exhibited in his short but storied life.

Instead, we have laughable members of Congress and people in power who hardly care about their constituents.

Also, as we all know, we no longer have a rice surplus. Instead, we have another rice crisis under our second Marcos president and worse, we have an economic team who were shocked by the controversial solution.

Rafael Salas must be turning in his grave.

*      *      *

Email: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales. Column archives at EyesWideOpen on FB.