As I Remember Mr. Roberto E. Fronda
“The effective executive is one who has sense enough to pick good men to do the job and self-restraint to keep from meddling while they do it.”- Catoy Fronda
Masagana 99 was an agricultural program of then Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to increase rice production among Filipino farmers. The program, launched in 1973 at a time the country was experiencing a rice supply shortage, led the Philippines to attain self-sufficiency in 1975–1976, and export rice to its neighboring Asian countries in 1977–1978.
By Dr Abe V Rotor
To write about the life of a fallen great man when he dies is like painting a huge wall, not knowing where to start and combine colors. Knowing Roberto “Catoy” Fronda the man and working with him in public office in a span of five years was more than a decade experience and a lasting memory.
So sorely missed
are his wits or his manner of “puffing problems out” with a style pipe – even
his unique way of carrying conversations that may last for hours with always
something new to learn. Someone related
familiar Fronda stories. Another
imitated his sideburn and moustache and sparse beard, and almost sounded like
him. Friends quipped, “That’s
Catoy.” But he was original and it will
take a long search to find one like him again.
What made him an
effective executive? And relevant to the
conditions on the countryside? And loved
by all – mayors, teachers, farmers, businessmen and members of the cultural minority,
not to mention government officials who held him in high esteem?
For one thing, he inspired devotion in people near and around him. He had tireless energy and total dedication
to his task. He had a keen, analytical mind and could immediately separate the
grains from the chaff, so to speak. He
had the knack of putting people at ease even in tense moments and inspired them
to open up and give their views and opinions.
Coupled with this was his patience in listening. He had a terrific sense of humor and often
used this to show that an opinion or suggestion was not on target. He was as frank as he was honest.
The late Deputy was a scholar in his own right.
Fronda finished agricultural engineering at the UP at Los Baños where he was born and brought up with three sisters and a brother. His father, the dean of poultry industry in the Philippines today is formerly an animal science professor at Los Baños. Catoy’s love for agriculture and nature is traceable to his childhood environment.
He spent many years as teacher – first s instructor in an agricultural school, then with the Irrigation Unit extension program as field engineer, and finally, as action man of the Rice and Corn Production Coordinating Council (RCPCC), precursor of NFAC. To the end of his life he was still teaching, and his classroom was as big as the countryside. His subjects: food and agriculture. His students: Technicians and farmers. Later in the last two years, he joined the First Lady’s Project Compassion to work out on an integrated approach to rural development, combining four major subjects: green revolution, nutrition, family planning and environmental sanitation, into a practical curriculum. Indeed, he was a great teacher.
At NFAC he held responsible positions such as COPE for Agriculture, a Malacañang designation as coordinating officer for program execution in agricultural development alongside with the concept of PROD and MOVER programs of the president. At the same time he was chairman of the executive management board of the committee on National Irrigation Integration (CNI), and also the chairman of the executive council of the National Minorities Assistance Council (NAMAC). Shortly after his death a posthumous award was conferred on him by PANAMIN for “outstanding achievement in the development of cultural minorities.”
He held an enduring love for the minorities that he could be found in settlement areas as often as in pilot farms where the package of technology with the discovery of miracle varieties were tried in full scale.
At other times he would be found sitting down with the steering committee on food production. He was member in the UN Development Program or the ASEAN permanent committee on food production. He was member in no less than a dozen local and foreign organizations involved in food production.
He travelled extensively and most of his trips abroad were made in the last five years of his life, making him one of the most traveled government executives at one time. For three occasions he visited Taiwan on the latter’s invitation, toured the whole Southeast Asia, and crossed the breadth of the whole American continent, reaching as far as Mexico and Columbia. There he studied agricultural programs and represented the Philippines in conferences. The single most important occasion he attended was the symposium on agricultural institutions for integrated rural development in Rome under FAO in 1971. For him he considered that such integration taken in began to be realized when Seoul adopted a seed dispersal program patterned after his concept. For this he received a distinction award from the South Korean government.
Shortly after the proclamation of 1081 he was called upon to help organize the new cereal agency, the NGA. It was a recognition of his being one of the most knowledgeable officials on agriculture, particularly on grains production. Among his records, he spearheaded the rehabilitation program in the great Central Luzon flood in 1972, brining back the productivity of the area through an unprecedented crash program of agricultural rehabilitation. The concept of inter-agency cooperation in the NFAC was carried on under his directorship at NFAC during the dark years immediately following the new social order, a job which needed much courage and endurance. Earlier he was one of the architects of introducing technology into the farm with the discovery of miracle varieties, this to become the founding principle of Masagana 99. But his greatest achievement was his influence on public service discipline and dedication among government works in the field.
For three years as deputy administrator of NGA he provided much of the technical aspects of administration, and, like in NFAC, his expertise was highly recognized. In 1975 he joined the First Lady’s Project Compassion while holding on to his position with NGA, two key position he hung on until the day he died.
He posses a remarkable persuasive power during tight situations. In Isabela for example, millers were reluctant to enter into the quedan. He related a story about two shipwreck survivors who wanted to “eat each other.” It was like switching on light that the millers roared into laugher and later pledged to participate in the quedan program.
“With the personality of this man,” a miller commented, his humor and wit, expert knowledge, patience and persistence, there hardly are problems in agriculture he cannot thresh out or lead to a solution.”
“He did more thinking than the rest of us,” recalls a bureau director who worked with him for years,” and he was full of jokes and laughter.”
I discovered a souvenir album of selected phases which he must have treasured in the course of his government career. Among these are philosophies of life reflective of his own. Here are some examples:
“Education is the ability to listen to almost anything without losing your temper or your self-confidence.” “If you begin with certainties, we shall end in doubts; but if we begin with doubts, and are patient in them, we shall end in certainties.”
On decision making, he had these to say. ”He who is a good judge of men corrects what he hears by what he sees; he who is not a good judge of men corrects what he sees by what he hears.”
“The effective executive is one who has sense enough to pick good men to do the job and self-restraint to keep from meddling while they do it.”
“Never make a decision in anger or out of anger.”
In the last pages of the album, like the last years of his life, his thoughts turned to spiritual retreat.
“Man is a gregarious animal and much more in his mind than in his body. He may like to go alone for a walk, but he hates to stand alone in his opinions.”
“The crumbling of one’s on little world is no reason to let life pass you by. One doesn’t recover from hurt by building a wall around oneself.”
And on the inside back page of the album was his favorite photograph wearing a warm smile and a good stride with this line written: Forgiveness doe not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”
Whether these phrases were his own composition or selected from his reading, makes little difference for the man whose life style and thinking were influenced by these philosophies.
To the last minute of his life his mind was alert and strong as ever, his zeal for work undiminished. He still talked of rice and project compassion in between pits of pain. And while resigned to his fate, he never resigned from his task.
The last time I visited him was on his last birth. He was already abed and in pain. I learned that he had received the last sacrament and that he had outlived his condition for nearly three months. He was in usual good mood and wits, and we talked casually. Physically he had significantly declined. But there was a glow in his face that showed a spirit strong as steel and a determination to live. I remember him that the resources of the spirit are like savings: they must be accumulated before they are needed. He had a vast accumulation of such resources.
As I bid goodbye, he said:
“I’m glad you came. Please tell our people that I love them all.” He smiled and our hands clasped for the last time. Three days later, he died.
His last trip through the modern metropolis to his resting place at Loyola in Marikina was as brief as his service to his fellowmen was long.
The grass was green and sparkling after an early afternoon shower. The sun was bright on our faces as we laid him to eternal rest. Grief was on every face but heads were held high like t he spirit of the man. Beyond lay the paddies where golden panicles bowed in plenty and respect. ~
**Published in the GRAINS Magazine of the National Food Authority, then National Grains Authority, in 1978
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