HOMAGE TO THE OBLATION By REGENT ABRAHAM F. SARMIENTO

64 V.P.

^GAZETTE

VOL. V, No.4

HOMAGE TO THE OBLATION

APRIL 30, 1974 U.P.

GAZETTE

65

• •

•

Though one cannot take issue with the need for the transfer, some of the assumptions behind it have been shown in the Course of the twenty-five years of the Uni- versi~Y's existence in Dillman, to be fraught with danger.

The Idea of the scholar as necessarily requiring isolation very quickly developed among some university constituents an isolationist indifference to what was happening to the rest of the country. This indifference-and the pride that some sudents as well as faculty members took in it-gave birth to the view of the University as somehow apart

~romthe ~est of Philippine society, a view expressed aptly

In the claim that the University was "a republic within the Republic."

In this sense, therefore, the transfer enhanced the traditional view of the intellectual and scholar as some- how apart from the rest of mankind. The historian study- ing the University would perhaps note that the University was, in more than a physical sense, isolated indeed from the rest of the country during the years immediately following its transfer, its constituents persisting in the view that the "outside world" need not intrude into the University's concerns: a view which found expression not only in its academic life hut also in the kind of writing that was favored in the University, the kind of cheerful, unsocial, if not anti-social attitude that was, to outsiders, the hallmark of the D.P. student as well as of the D.P.

professor.

This illusion was, however, rudely shattered by the intrusion of the outside world into the University, in the inevitable backlash of the Huk rebellion that made itself felt in the University in the mid-fifties and early sixties in the form of members of Congress taking a dim view of those academic activities which lay well within the pro- tection of the constitutional guarantee of academic free- dom, but which seemed to indicate dangerous tendencies

among some of the faculty and students. The University was part of the larger societyj it was not a republic within tho Republic.

Though we tend to view the events of these years as damagin~ones to the University, it seems to me that they were._qUI~ t?e contrary. The University emerged from the isolationism of its early Dillman years into an awareness of the world, so that coincident to the rise

~f the student movement by the second half of the 60'03, It was felt t,hat the parochialism of these early years was, far. from being to the benefit of the university, dangerous to It.

Dillman is no longer the isolated suburb of Manila that it used to be. An entire city has grown around it.

Manila is a mere thirty minutes away; downtown Quezon City a scant ten. Together with this shattering of its physical isolation has come an awareness of its role in the national society and of its responsibility to the people. It is a development that we can only celebrate, a fact we should regard with hope. In times that are admittedly somewhat perilous for the intellectual for

"hom the University is home, the University has be- come even more aware of the value of its mission: to seek cut the truth which is the key to individual and social liberation. It is a mission which the University has yet to accomplish, and a mission both difficult as well. as perilous to undertake. But it is, in the final analysis, the only commitment that a University such as ours can have and the only one that justifies its existence.

In the twenty-five years since the University's transfer to Dillman, it has gone from isolationism to commitment, from indifference to concern, from alienation to complete integration with the hopes and aspirations, the dreams and the struggles of our people .

•

AGRICULTURE IN OUR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC REVOLUTION

By GERARDO P. SICAT

Director-General

National Economic and Development Authority

(Commencement address delivered during the second gradnat-ion ceremonies of the University of the Philippines at Los Banos, 26 April1974)

This year's commencement exercises in various institu- tions of learning represent, in my mind, a celebration of the future of our nation. The future generation of leaders -the graduates of this year-is witness to the enormous changes instituted within our social, economic and political structures in the first twenty months of new society pro- grams and to at least an equivalent amount of time to periods of national indecisions.

The transformation from a turmoil of national discon- tent, soul-searching moods and prolonged periods of de- bates to a vista of activated improvements defines the challenges and promises that our nation and leaders face.

Almost two years ago, institutional changes were made in our political system through the temporary institution of martial law, the' adoption of a new Constitution and the massive efforts undertaken by the government on the re- alignment of national development activities. These have

laid the foundation for future directions of development planning.

Role of th-e university

In the process of planning these future directions, the University of the Philippines is part and parcel of the institutional changes that have taken place in the country since September 1972. The creation of an autonomous unit such as this University of the Philippines at Los Banos is an example of our continuous search for a relevant role for the university in our national life.

There are traditional roles assigned to the University by virtue of its function to provide a supply of trained schol- ars, teachers, practitioners and researchers. This role is as essential today as it was in the past. More so, there is a greater focus on the production of relevant and skilled

66 _V.P.

_GAZETTE

VOL. V, No.4

knowledge that will benefit all sectors of our society in- cluding education, industry, commerce, finance, and the government.

Improvement of knowledge can he strengthened through the proper focus on relevant learning processes and through the cooperative endeavors of the university and the private sector. This is important because, in an ea- sentlally private enterprise economy like ours, only "re- levant" knowledge becomes applicable to the modes of improving production. Tied to this is the important need to relat-e the development programs of the government with the university sector.

In all areas of national development, the University of the Philippines, whether Diliman or Los Banos, has pro- vided continuous support. In D.P. at Los Banos, basic national problems are studied because of its special his- tory. Its expertise, for instance, in the formulation of food production methods, is being fully harnessed to achieve further improvements in the country's production of food. Hence, U.P. at Los Banos, formerly U.P. College of Agriculture, is and should continue to be the focal arena where scholars, researchers and applicators of knowledge will devote their efforts in the betterment of food production.

Food

Food production is inevitably related to health and nutrition. By the standards of healthy and vigorous na- tions, our nutrition is sadly deficient. For instance, the per capita consumption of vegetables in the United States is ten times more than ours. In Japan, it is even fifteen times greater. And while there is slightly higher per capita consumption of meat items by Filipinos than the Japanese, the Japanese consume three times more fish than our countrymen. The Americans, mean'!!!ile, eat about seven to eight times more meat than our countrymen and roughly the same amount of fish. Per capita consump- tion of fats and oils in the United States is 12 times larg- er than ours while in Japan it is three times more. Milk consumption in the United States is 23 times more than ours, per capita. In Japan, it is three times more. Caloric intake of food by our countrymen, although relatively sufficient to sustain the average Filipino, could be fur- ther enriched by more food production.

While these figures represent some diversity in dietary patterns due to cultural differences, the evidence is quite clear that the Filipino can still attain higher levels of physical-and by this reason, of mental-fitness if sup- ported by a strong agricultural sector and, of course, if he can afford to purchase products of agriculture.

The latter-to afford to buy food-is dependent on economic development since high incomes lead to higher consumption. An expansion of agriculture and overall in- comes in the country would therefore tend to improve the diet of the average Filipino immensely.

Production und development

The deficiency in our food intake implies that more efforts should be exerted by the government and citizens alike in order to reach the food consumption levels of other countries.

Of course, one aspect of high development is seen in the way rich countries consume more nonfood items than

food. These countries have reached a very high rate of development that food production becomes a matter-of-fact.

They have gained expertise in producing goods and serv- ices beyond their basic food needs.

In our country and other poor countries as well, the most challenging aspect of development is still the pro- vision of food to meet the population requirements. It will be a long time before we can really attain that level where food production is so taken care of that attention can be given to nonfood production thereby raising the average Filipino's nonfood consumption significantly.

'Ve have been net importers of basic staples all these years. We cannot take pride nor consolation in the known fact that as a country, our economy is a net exporter of food products while simultaneously the basic staples need- ed by our countrymen-rice and corn-are still supple- mented, even though only in minor portions, by foreign supply.

True enough, we export sugar, vegetables, fruits, co- conut, fish and other marine products. But the fact still remains that we partly rely on foreign supply for our staples. Hence, it is important that attention be given to basic production of food by the government. For a coun- try such as ours, we must in the future settle on a course of producting staples not only for ourselves but for other nations as well.

The dimensions of growth that the economy foresees in the future are enormous. The national Four-Year Development Plan calls for a continuing expansion of the gross national product. At the rate of 7 per cent per rear, a target that may likely be exceeded, we are gear- ing our planning machinery towards a development tar- get of 10 per cent per year before the end of this decade.

This would mean a higher rate of growth in per capita gross national product in the order of at least four to six per cent within the decade of the 19705.

Development, as everyone knows, is not only cold sta- tistics. The efforts at redistributing the benefits of pro- duction to make our countrymen share in development are all embodied in the many dimensional problems and strategies we in the government have devised to improve the welfare of the common man.

This is the reason for the large expansion of efforts in attracting employment in industries in rural as well as urban areas-and in going all out for the development of labor-intensive exports. Efforts are also being exerted to enlarge the "basic" industries that will produce at R

later stage the linkage of industrial processes with labor- intensive industries and with agriculture. In such pro- cesses, there will be a large development of our mineral and natural resources with greater emphasis on the pro- cessing of goods before being exported.

Revolutionizing agriculture

The expansion of all productive efforts in the country will give a pull-and-push drive in agriculture. Given the low levels of per capita income in the country, any new income generated for our people will find its way relative.

ly in higher percentages of consumption of basic foods- foods that are not only confined to cereals but also in.

elude vegetables, livestock and other protein-generating agricultural products.

• .,

• •

APRIL 30, 1974 V.P.

GAZETTE

67

• •

• •

The revolutionary measures being undertaken now in agriculture will not pull down industrial expansion either.

Revolutionizing agriculture can increase production not only of industrial wage goods like food, clothing, shelter (which would then become the consumption goods of most farmers) but also of raw materials and capital goods used by farmers. The requirements for pesticides and fer- tilizers could immensely increase by virtue of the expan- sion of the demand for their use in agriculture.

New demands for inputs that can only originate from the soil like the need for further feed grains, for indus- trial raw materials like cotton, rubber, coconut oil and palm oil, abaca and other natural fibers will be created.

From the recent trauma produced by the sudden realiza- tion that we are dependent on crude oil and on its fast- escalating prices, we know that there should be a rapid utilization of agriculture as a substitute for fuel-based synthetics. A country as rich in soil, in rain and in sun as ours is likely to benefit rather than suffer from such development.

The next ten years and towards the end of this cen- tury will therefore focus on an enlarging role for the agricultural sector. In absolute terms, it will continue to rise, It will continue to experience a diversification of crops. In the course of this diversification, it will require men whose training has been based in the many branches of science in agriculture, such as the graduates of today in this campus.

Gainful employment in agriculture

The efforts at modernising and expanding product com- position of agriculture will generate not only a reduction in food imports and an intensification of export crop possibilities but also, and most important, the provision of gainful employment for our people.

Today, about one-third of our population of roughly 40 million people is dependent on the livelihood found in the urban sector. Two-thirds, meanwhile, are part and par- cel of the rural sector which is essentially linked with

agriculture. In the process of development that I foresee, there will be a necessary shift of people from rural to urban areas. We anticipate that the agricultural sector will become more productive so that it can release the extra labor force that it contains to support labor needs of industries.

The strategy of our industrialization program is to keep on enlarging the demand for factory and industrial labor. Thus this process of migration from the rural to the urban sector is but a consequence of the development strategy we are pursuing to transform our country into a modern economy.

Social revolution

In the course of all these, the large part of the social revolution that has to take place will be one that is based on agriculture. This is the reason for the efforts of government to support a program of land reform, to expand and attune this with the expansion of agricultural cooperatives, to open up more areas for large-scale agri- culture, and to support various programs of diversifica- tion in agriculture.

The social revolution begins with the uplift of the rural man in dignity, income and social status. From here, the revolutionized rural sector, specifically the agri- cultural sector, would bring up the level of activity in the rest of the economy.

Our strategy of development is to complement the ex- pansion of agriculture with that of the industrial sector since the former would induce a greater expansion of capital goods industry that feeds on agriculture as a source of demand.

For this reason, the strategy of development in the 1970s and thereafter places greater focus on agricul- tural improvement. Consequently this would call for a more sophisticated corps of experts.

I pose the challenge to you, now, the graduates of i974, to fill up this requirement.

COMMENCEl\IENr ADDRESS

JUAN L. MANUEL

Secretary of Education and Culture

(Delivered at the U.P.'s 8Srd graduation exercises on 28 April 1974)

Itis a distinct privilege to address the graduates of this university-the University of the Philippines-from whose halls have come many of those who comprise the stalwart leadership of the country today. Few can deny that the performance of its graduates in various fiel~:, ^through the years, has only added luster to the. tradition of ex- cellence this great university has established.

University graduates at this period of our development are indeed specially fortunate for these are uncommon times. Never before in our history had we been confronted with vast opportunities for a demonstration of our true capabilities, our capacity to achieve, as in these most propitious times.

Philippine society has been fres~IY i.nfused w~th :he consciousness of a new power of direction, creation, I~­

novation, and achievement it had not been able to mam-

fest in the not too remote past considering certain dis- abling factors and forces in our society we then did not have the unified will, nor the collective manfulness to resist.

But today, we are witnessing, and we are a part of, an unprecedented national determination to reform, to survive, and to advance. There is, as it were, a new stirring among us, an awakening, a realization, for the first time by our people that the only warranty for the kind of future we desire for ourselves and our children lies in each and everyone of us in the manner we seek to see, and take on, our patriotic obligations; in the way we infuse our every action with moral consCIousness and

social concern. .

Government leadership has set the example. National goals have been made clear and priorities defined. In a

68

U.P. GAZETTE

VOL. V, No.4

brief span of a year or two, we have seen the accelerated pace of agrarian reform implementation^j road and bridges construction; food production; dispersal of health and medical services particularly in the rural areasj electrifica- tion, irrigation, and other infrastructure projects; and above all, a stabilized peace and order situation. The cli- mate has been made propitious for a cultural renaissance, for a continuing nourishment of all that comprise our cul- tural heritage.

All these measures have been conceived and implemented not only toward promoting self reliance among ^OUf peo- ple, but primarily, toward correcting certain imperfections in our social structure. Many of these measures are de- signed to widen access of the masses of our people to opportunities for fuller and more abundant living, and to enable them to get a full share of the benefits of what- ever progress this country achieves. Economic growth and social transformation are indeed valid goals of change; but transcending these areas of change, is a requirement basic to the stability of any society and the durability of any country-strengthening the "spirit and will," the character of our people. It has been said that there is nothing wrong with any country, there is no problem, which the character of its people cannot correct.

Itcannotbe denied that the most formidable task facing us today in our effort to reforge our destiny, is indeed strengthening of the character of our people, the inter- nalization by them of imperative moral values and the promotion of healthier attitudes.

The effect of progress in any of the programs earlier indicated would at best be short-lived unless it is sup- ported by a corresponding change in the value system of cur people. And it is this moral reform that is the basic task for education in this new society. Considering the hobbling attitudes and old-society habits that have heen encrusted in many of us, the task will not be easy. But we have started.

Itmay be recalled that, toward the reform of education if; this country, a number of changes in educational poli- cies, programs, and projects have been instituted. While admittedly, the patent purpose of such policies and pro- grams was to achieve greater efficiency and perhaps econ- omy in the educational process, it must be underscored that at the core of such policies and programs is the changing of certain impeding attitudes and the strength- ening of moral values urgent to the social transformation we desire.

What are some of our policies and programs in educa- -tion?

One of our major emphases is that of making education relevant and responsive to urgent and crucial problems confronting the nation. The school, college, or uni- versity should not remain an ivory tower concerned solely with academic excellence and indifferent to the serious social and economic problems of the society that it is supposed to serve. This should not be.

Therefore we insisted on that brand .of education that is not only relevant but also development oriented. We have seen to it that the curriculum in all levels includes learning experiences in drug education, population eduea- tton, agrarian reform and taxation education, food pro- duction and nutrition education, conservation education, consumers and cooperatives education. For we are con- vinced that only thus can we make education a potent in-

strument in raising the level of living and the quality of life of our people.

In am happy to note that the President of the Univer- sity of the Philippines holds a similar view. He was quoted in the latest issue of the Carillon as baving called for the

"shattering of the walls of isolation that traditionally had kept the scholar isolated from his people." The D.P.

President further said and I quote:

"The events that really matter are, after all, happening outside the University, in the fields and factories of this land where the majority of our people live out their lives.

Ifthe University does not exist for them and serve them, there is no reason for it to continue existing. And if scholarship is pursued not for the purpose of making human life more pleasant and meaningful, but for ends that are selfish or trivial-then it is not true scholarship at all but merely a form of self-indulgence."

The National College Entrance Examination system, 'which many see only as a measure for restricting enrol- ment in college, is actually a way of streaming-i-of identi- fying those who may go into higher education and those whose need is "further education." In time, through this system, we hope to correct prevailing notions that the only desirable or worthwhile education is an academic or liberal education. In time, we hope to place things in proper perspective to the end that our people will realize, as they should have a long time ago, that the essential services in this society are not a monopoly of college-trainedmen; that each of us has certain gifts and certain skills; that each of us has distinct roles to fulfill and that we must do.what we can do, and what we have to do: that dignity is not inherent in the calling or vocation, or profession; that whatever our calling, it is we who infuse it with excellence or with mediocrity;

with respectability or with shabbiness; with high nobility or with dishonor.

On the language of instruction problem we are imple- menting the policy of bilingualism as approved by the National Board of Education. This policy has for its ob- jective the development of a bilingual nation that can communicate with ease and facility in both English and Pilipino,

This policy of bilingualism allows the use of Pilipino and not only English, as medium of instruction in certain SUbject areas in the elementary and secondary levels and even in college, provided there are adequate textbooks and instructional materials and competent teachers to teach in the medium. This is one way of promoting a stronger sense of national identity and a stronger feeling cf nationalism. We subscribe to the view that language exerts an invisible, unexplainable impact on the culture and the sentiments of a people. Let it be understood, how.

ever, that the desirability of the wider use of the na- tional language has not, blinded us to the necessity, the advantages of maintaining proficiency in English parti- cularly at the higher levels. We are aware that a knowledge of the language gives us access to the vast knowledge gained in the world today-particularly in the areas of science and technology.

The Youth Civic Action Program, which is now

a.

requirement for college graduation, has manifold values.

In fact, it is perhaps an excellent approach toward meet- ing the loud demands for relevance that have shattered

•

•