Life lessons from Filipino scientists: Personality, practicality, policy

Scientists are a rare breed of experts, scholars, and professionals who can genuinely think and act out of the box. We are familiar with some of their magna opera. Yet we tend to ignore the elementary fact that they too are individuals who, like many of us, ask a lot of questions, can be skeptical of what is going on, and want to lighten the mood.

In the Philippines, where public perception of science is relatively positive (albeit not uncontroversial at all), the lives of scientists (much more so the scientific activities that they do), appear to be a mystery to segments of the public.

As scholars interested in the diverse characters of science, we thought it was good to explore the work of scientists and their contributions to state-building and national development. 

Along the way, we ventured into their celebrated achievements and lesser-known personas, sense of humor and wit, and pragmatism — things we hope to spotlight in this essay.

Disrupting conventions and humor

Scientists challenge conventions that they think are detrimental to the realization of individual and collective potential. At times, they too know the comfort of laid-back humor.

At the University of the Philippines Los Baños (UPLB) and other elite universities in the 1950s, the unwritten rule in publishing journal articles based on students’ theses was for the faculty advisers to take lead senior authorship. 

National Scientist and former dean of the UPLB College of Agriculture Dioscoro L. Umali (1917–1992) broke this tradition and allowed his student-advisees to take on the role of senior authors. To his mind, this practice would help the students launch their scientific careers, especially if they wished to pursue them in the academe.

Dr. Umali was an eminent scholar in the field of genetics and plant breeding, which earned him the moniker “Father of Philippine Plant Breeding.” He mentored a generation of accomplished students, among whom were future national scientists Dolores A. Ramirez (1931–) and Emil Q. Javier (1940–).

Occasionally, scientists are also fond of making casual humorous remarks. Although humor is relative, it reveals the human side of scientists. 

National Scientist Jose R. Velasco (1916–2007) once jokingly said that “Law’s loss was science’s gain.” The young Velasco thought of becoming a lawyer. But due to limited resources and opportunity, he decided to pursue a would-be productive career in agricultural chemistry and plant physiology at UPLB. Dr. Velasco had a lifelong passion for the writings of legal scholars.

In his work on the coconut disease known as cadang-cadang in the 1950s, Dr. Velasco expressed reservations regarding the apparent scientific consensus that this disease was caused by a virus. For him, this “coconut killer” was due to an abnormal soil property that is poisonous to coconut trees. Realizing these different viewpoints in his discipline, Dr. Velasco joked that when “he finally jumped on the bandwagon, he unhappily landed on the band and called the music.”

Giving science a human face

Scientists strive to make their discoveries serve a public purpose.

National Scientist Javier, one of the fortunate proteges of National Scientist Umali, is widely regarded as a practical scientist and leader. He pioneered the study of plant genetics and agronomy in the Philippines. He founded UPLB’s Institute of Plant Breeding, which has mainstreamed various high-yielding and essential crops in Asia.

The most outstanding virtue of Dr. Javier as a scientist, according to the preeminent National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST), is his ability “to conceive and put into action realistic approaches to the problems that confront tropical agriculture in a developing country.” In his endeavor to help small farmers, the NAST elaborated, the National Scientist from Laguna always directs his research toward developing practical farming methods meant to improve crop production using cheap and indigenous methods.

As a leader, Dr. Javier served as University of the Philippines (UP) president from 1993 to 1999. He chaired the National Science Development Board (now Department of Science and Technology) from 1981 to 1986 and soon headed the NAST from 2005 to 2012. 

Like many of his renowned peers, Dr. Javier, when asked about the conferment of the National Scientist Award in an online panel discussion in July 2020, humbly responded that “’Yun ay mga dekorasyon na lang ‘yun” (The award is simply a decorative badge of honor). 

Policy and vision for UP

In a marathon of video recordings entitled “Reinventing UP as a National University,” political scientist Jose V. Abueva (1928–2021) revisited his policy and vision for UP as the country’s only national university. He was UP president from 1987 to 1993.

Dr. Abueva, who was UP Professor Emeritus of Political Science and Public Administration at the time, noted that the idea of UP being the national university was first proposed during his presidency in 1992 (the Republic Act 9500 or the UP Charter, which mandates UP as the national university, was enacted into law in 2008). He explained to members of the UP community that the university should continue to assess its teaching, research, and extension pursuits, saying, “We should apply our scientific attitude and criticalness to ourselves.” 

Responding to a fellow UP faculty who asked about measures that UP officials could take to support new curricula which promoted “qualitative changes” (like community arts development), Dr. Abueva made some light remarks and said: “Hindi na ako ang mananagot niyan…professor emeritus na ako eh. Wala na akong magagawa diyan.” (I can only do so much. I am now a professor emeritus). 

Dr. Abueva admitted that it might be best for current UP officials to address the concern raised by the faculty. He added that “I can only offer you sympathy,” which evoked a chuckle from the panel moderator and online spectators. The political scientist from Bohol nevertheless explained to the inquisitive faculty: “I value what you say. Very much. I believe in a rounded education [and] in a multifaceted, multi-rich university.”

With this piece, we hope to have shared a glimpse into the fascinating work and personalities of scientists and experts in the Philippines. We are under no illusion that they are representative of all there is, but we trust that this essay will help keep the conversation going. – Rappler.com

The authors are professors at the College of Development Communication, University of the Philippines Los Baños. Jefferson Ragragio was a postdoc scholar at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Serlie F. Barroga-Jamias was a postdoc scholar at the University of Maryland, College Park.