A Clockwork Pelias

Manila, Philippines - “The common misconception of so many people outside the College of Science, and in fact even within the college, is the shallow observation that the scientist’s concern only includes such concepts as velocity, molar mass, electron affinity, zeros of a polynomial, capacitance, diffraction, scientific name, and so on. What come to mind upon hearing the word ‘scientist’ are just all these scientific and mathematical jargon. What so many people overlook is the more important aspect of a scientist: I am talking here about the scientist’s character.” – from the college commencement speech of JG Pelias, “Defining the Scientist’s Temperament”

It was not an auspicious time and location to conduct an interview with summa cum laude John Gabriel Pelias, the recent graduate with the highest grade point average in post-war era UP, that May Monday morning at the Chocolate Kiss in Balay Alumni on the Diliman campus. There was a construction/renovation ongoing nearby, and various unsavory sounds of drilling, hammering and general wheezing continuously assaulted the otherwise affable ambiance of the low-key restaurant.

President Aquino congratulates John Gabriel Pelias during the 100th general commencement exercises of the University of the Philippines. Looking on are UP president Alfredo Pascual, UP-Diliman chancellor Caesar Saloma, Sen. Edgardo Angara and Cong. Juan Edgardo Angara, chairs of the Senate and House committees on Education.

Yet John was gung-ho about it all, even if he arrived somewhat late, and his guardian Fidel Nemenzo of the UP Math Department had suggested that the boy genius had been refusing interviews of late, having gotten tired and rather flustered with the whirlwind attention, but that my being the son of my mother Emerenciana, whose 63-year-old record set in 1948 Pelias broke, would give a different angle to the story.

Yup, that’s 63 not 65, as earlier reported by Wendell Capili of the UP Administration, probably due to overexcitement that there was such a record in the first place.

Here are a few of the responses of Pelias, over breakfast of fish fillet sandwich, fries, Spanish omelet and coffee.

On the expectations from his first job teaching Math 17 in the first semester at the Math Department, “wala naman (nothing much),” but outgoing chair Jose Maria Balmaceda will likely be giving him the regular 12 units to handle, aside from the six units he’ll be taking up to start his master’s.

Photos by gil nartea/MalacaÑANG PHOTO BUREAU

On what’s the first thing he’ll buy with his first paycheck, “may pinagiipunan kami (we’re saving up for something),” maybe a new place to move into since the house he and his paternal lola are staying in now is subject to legal dispute. Pelias says his own mom died some years ago, while his dad has his own life and sees him only when he drops by the old contested homestead. It’s his grandma who has raised him.

From lola Sandra H. Pelias, 63, the kid says he learned “punctuality, preparedness, making good use of time,” the importance of studying lessons in advance. The Peliases are originally from Leyte.

On how he learned to play the piano and his favorite pieces, he says though they are not rich and piano lessons are generally associated with the well-to-do, his folks somehow strived to give him formal lessons to make use of what is considered a family heirloom. There are also similarities between math and music notation, as in the measures, the combination of certain notes. Pelias prefers playing the romantics like Chopin, Liszt, Schubert.

Pelias (center) and his family pose with vice chancellor for academic affairs Dr. Lorna Paredes and UP-Diliman chancellor Dr. Caesar Saloma after receiving his summa cum laude medal.

On his freshman high school teacher Dinah Lizza Gutierrez, whom he acknowledged in his commencement speech as one of those who inspired him to pursue math, he remembers most the clock problems she gave in class, which further piqued his mind and made him devise his own clock problems, time immaterial amid variables and postulates.

If the university were a math problem, how to describe it?

Talk shifts to the ikot and toki jeeps – it is applied math when trying to figure out the most cost-effective routes to benefit the most commuters. But math too can venture into the realm of philosophy, faith and religion, as the search continues for a mathematical equation that would prove the existence of God, or indeed even his nonexistence.

On study tips, secrets of the trade, no he’s never actually tried getting a trusted friend to whisper to him difficult formulas and equations while deep in his sleep, but that he never enrolled in summer, preferring to use the time for preparation for his math subjects, so that during the school year he could focus on general education subjects. In his preparations, he gets a feel of particular word problems, so that when a similarly phrased problem comes his way during the semester it would not be entirely unfamiliar.

Photos by Walter Bollozos/STAR

Was he aware that he was breaking a record?

“Ordinary student lang ako,” he says, going through the same troubles of the iskolar ng bayan, like lining up along with his fellow “crazy procrastinators” to get their theses book bound at the University Shopping Center, as mentioned in one of his commencement speeches. He hung out at the College of Science Library during his freshman year when he had few friends. He is also buddies with the UP Math Majors Circle, where he helps tutor lowerclassmen.

He doesn’t have a girlfriend, “marami ring kakaining units yun (that would also consume a lot of units).”

His preoccupations are not different from that of the average student: cellphone load, some free time “dahil mahirap magbalanse ng oras, sobrang dami ng distractions (it’s hard to budget one’s time because of too many distractions).” And though he’s a graduate of the Philippine Science High School, he hasn’t yet seen the Aureus Solito movie of the same name, though he’s heard of it.

Pelias with his former teachers, now colleagues, Dr. Jose Ma. Balmaceda and Dr. Marian Roque.

In college he remembers one terror teacher, his PE teacher in bridge, who gave him a 4.0 (conditional) but eventually passed him. His preferred sport is swimming, “dahil gusto kong magbabad (I like being immersed in water).”

Advice for future scholars?

Be the best you can be and solve as much as you can problems of a similar framework.

Being an iskolar ng bayan, one should look at not just paying back but owning up to a kind of social responsibility.

Even if not a student of a state university, it is the responsibility of Filipinos to serve the country; “and as UP students we should be the model of that.”

On the aftermath of his unexpected fame, Pelias, 19, says he “didn’t wish to be a public figure, but am suffering.” He’s received offers from multinationals and other huge companies, but he’s chosen to teach and study in the alma mater, and if he accepts any corporate job it would be at most part-time.

“In the end, no authentically noble reason can justify our dreams of living glamorously in the face of utter poverty in our country. The least we can do in return for this country’s taxpayers who paid a huge part of our UP education is to dedicate even just some time of our lives to the service of the Filipino people. We remember the two eminent words we always find on the cover of our blue books: Honor and Excellence. UP education shouldn’t be just about academic excellence. It’s also about how one achieves them and how one applies them.” – from the university commencement speech of JG Pelias, “Ang Tunay na Pagsubok sa mga Iskolar ng Bayan”