The 1.5 Million Challenge. Sec Ramon Paje & UPLB Alumni Awardees 2011

MANILA - Today, 10 October 2011, some 65 km away from the heart of Manila, was celebrated the 93rd Loyalty Day and Alumni Homecoming of the University of the Philippines Los Baños. This is the most festive day at the UP Los Baños campus in the entire year. It is celebrated to honor all alumni.

It wasn´t always like that. I remember that it was I, the writer, who singlehandedly changed the nature of the celebration that was centered on those who volunteered to fight the war in Europe (World War I), when in a mimeographed open letter titled "What Did You Do In The War, Daddy?" signed by stylus in my own name, I questioned the loyalty of those celebrating that day, 10 October 1967. I was 27 years old, and you know the young, they know everything.

But yesterday means more to me than today, and so with 50 others. Last night was UPLB Alumni Fellowship & Awards Night and current Secretary of Environment & Natural Resources Ramon Paje was one of The Outstanding Alumni Awardees, and so was Frank H. This happens only once in a lifetime, and so you will excuse me if I write about I, me and myself too. (Reality check: My wife Ampy admiring the trophy, not me.)

Here now are the awardees:

The Outstanding Alumni Awardees
Ramon Jesus P Paje (Government Service),
Gaudencio T Consunji (Agricultural Entrepreneurship)
Francisco F Peñalba (Community Service)
Ernesto C Tuazon (Research in Air Pollution and Community Service)
Frank A Hilario (Creative Writing)

The Nelia T Gonzales Alumni Service Awardees
Corazon Flores-Azucena
Roberto V Oliva.

Distinguished Alumni Awardees, by College:

College of Agriculture
Alfonso G Calub, Benny M Corcolon, Reynaldo V Ebora, Arnold B Estrada, Reynaldo C Mabesa, Glicerio B Rosario, Enrico P Supangco, Luis Rey I Velasco (current UP Los Baños Chancellor), Casiana M Vera Cruz, Edwin C Villar, Chamnian Yosraj (Thailand)

College of Arts & Sciences
Lourdes Pia H Lopez-Amora, Elpidio Cesar B Nadala Jr, Edsel A Peña, Maria Matilde C Sanchez-Kam

College of Development Communication
Jose Rey & Alo, Ma Theresa H Velasco

College of Engineering & Agricultural Technology
Casiano S Abrigo Jr, Marish S Madlangbayan, Guillermo Q Tabios III

College of Economics & Management
Elmore O Capule, Danilo C Cardenas, Achilles S Costales, Herminia A Francisco, Roberto F Rañola Jr

College of Human Ecology
Irene Reyes-Tumaob, Isidro T Ungab

College of Forestry & Natural Resources
Aida Baja-Lapis, Samakkee Boonyawat (Thailand), Arcadio V Calabas, Edwin A Combalicer, Antonio P Contreras, Jonas R Leones, Benjamin R Sapitula, Peter Nilo Tiangco, Tommy T Valdez

College of Veterinary Medicine
Rhodora G Siapno-Carlos, Rio John T Ducusin, Don A Franco, Carlos B Mendoza, Leo A Obviar

School of Environmental Science and Management
Victor A Francisco, Carmencita V Kagaoan, Rowena Andrea Valmonte-Santos

Back to the biggest winners.

The UPLBAA Outstanding Alumnus for Government Service - Secretary Ramon Paje of the Department of Environment & Natural Resources gave the response, being the highest-ranking of The Outstanding Alumni awardees. He was exuberant, saying, among other things, "This is the best award I've gotten in my entire career life. I got it from the best campus in the world!"

The UPLBAA Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing - Frank H got his award from the most challenging campus in the world. You see, for quite a number of years, it said "No" to the College-Level Creative Writing award I had been nominated for several times. This year, 2011, when this campus finally said "Yes," it was much sweeter - it is University-Level. Yes, this is the best award I've gotten in my entire life. And I got it from the best alumni association in the world! Remember, it was the UP Los Baños Alumni Association that handed out the award; Chairman of the Board of the UPLBAA as well as Chairman of the Awards Committee is Elpidio "Pids" Rosario - thank you, Pids!

The Secretary implied pressures bearing on him as guardian of the natural resources of his country when he quoted highly successful and much-revered Steve Jobs from his 2005 Stanford University Commencement speech: "Don't let the noise of other's opinions drown out your own inner voice." It comes with the territory. He said he had always practiced that, when he came to this campus, and when he left.

As a writer in the mechanical world of the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, did Frank H ever allow the opinions of others to drown out his own opinion? Not that I can remember. I have always been a non-conforming non-conformist. As a writer in the digital world starting in the late 1980s, blogging nurtured my independent spirit. Repeatedly refused by traditional print media in Manila, I said in 2006, "Blogging is the revenge of the unpublished writer." The Manila media didn't like my style; ironically, it's my writing style that won me this year's alumni association-wide award for Creative Writing. The thing is, I don´t write to meet the acquired tastes of journalists.

The Secretary said, "I believe it is my duty to report to you what is happening in our country. Wala na pong logging sa buong Pilipinas." Logging has stopped throughout the Philippines. If you remember, the national total ban on logging, Executive Order 23, issued by President Noynoy Aquino, is being implemented well. "The Department was able to muster the political will" to enforce the ban, the Secretary said.

As a writer, I very well noted that, remembering that the Filipinos are noted for their lack of political will, including within the bastion of activism in the country, the University of the Philippines System. For the first time, someone from the University of the Philippines has shown that where there's a will, there's a way. Political will versus political pressure - congratulations, Secretary Paje!

The Secretary said, instead of lifting the total ban, the President issued EO 26, declaring the National Greening Program as a national priority. The target was 1.5 million hectares planted to trees in 6 years. "We will do it," the Secretary said. National priority. In fact, the NGP was launched by the President himself on 13 May 2011 in Manila (philstar.com). The target for 2011 alone is to reforest 100,000 ha; the target is 1.5 million ha in 6 years.

As a creative thinker, I'm 100% sure that the political will of the President, through the Secretary, can make a success of the greening program as planned.

I'm also 100% sure that the greening will, if imposed on the people, will only make them 50% aware, interested, desirous and active in carrying out the next phase of the NGP: nurturing all those trees for 50 years without cutting any of them.

As a writer, I'm always thinking of a Beginning, Middle, and End. I mean, the National Greening Program is a great Beginning, but it's only a beginning, so I hope it doesn't End there. The Middle is important - like, we can try and discover other ways of reforestation faster than replanting throughout the country only 274 a day (100,000 ha divided by 365 days) - like, if each of the 13 regions of the country reforested only 320 ha a day, we would have reforested 1.5 million ha in a year instead of 6 years! In 6 years, we would have reforested the whole country?! That's what I would call political will.

I'll call it "The 1.5 Million Challenge" - given Climate Change, it's really a challenge to President Aquino through Secretary Paje to challenge the local governments, which in turn will challenge the locals and their partners to rise to the aid of their country. If the people will not rise to the challenge, not only trees will not rise - we Filipinos will never rise as a country, or we will drown in floods of recriminations or waters, whichever comes first.