Travelogue in Time and Space in Paintings and Verses (7 Destinations)

Travelogue in Time and Space in Paintings 

and Verses (7 Destinations)

Paintings and Verses by Dr Abe V Rotor

Allegory Cave

The Cave of Knowledge in acrylic by the author 2022,

represents the allegory cave of the Greek philosopher Plato.*

On display at the San Vicente Botanical Garden (IS)

In some dark cave humans lived in ignorance and fantasy,

until one escaped and  followed the passing shadow, goes the story,

and found a bigger world we know today, beautiful and free;

but he never returned to tell the others of his great disvovery.  

Thus, there are still many who are living in ignorance and fantasy.

Monsoon on the highland

Monsoon in acrylic by the author 2022. Painting 

on dislay at the San Vicente Botanical Garden IS)

Roar in thunder and tumble on the rocks over

the stream to herald the coming of monsoon;

wake the seeds and the field in long slumber,

the disciples of Aergia, goddess of the lazy bone.

 

Spent Waterfall

Eroded Waterfall in acrylic by the author, 2022 

Hidden from man for eons in the wild, 

     until found in his search for beauty.

Oh, what an irony indeed is discovery,

     and the essense of rationality? 

 

Glazed Clay from Volcanic Eruption

Volcanic Rock in acrylic by the author circa 1960, 

actually glazed clay found in a tobacco barn furnance, 

a process burnay (glazed jar) is made. On display 

among rock collection at the Living with Nature center.

From dust to dust, save the clay glazed

by fire into crust; 

from dust to rock, nature takes shape, 

and returns to dust. 

Remnants of Forest Fire 

Ruin and Regeneration in acrylic by the author 2020, 

relief on wood, superimposed with stones and twig.  

On display at the San Vicente Botanical Garden (IS)

Bone dry after the conflagration, the landscape

breathes a generation;

rebuilding the lost vegetation from underground,

we call resurrection;

fire destroys and fire rebuilds, it's Nature's cycle

 of regeneration.

Where have all the wildlife gone?

Sculpt head of Philippine deer against a wall mural 

 of a spoiled landscape painted by the author, 2020.

On display at San Vicente Botanical Garden (IS)

Their habitats forever gone, invaded and destoyed,

by man's greed and folly, and rush;

where have all the wildlife gone, we ask ourselves;

Pogo says, no one is to blame but us.

A Garden in Space

The Living Universe in acrylic on wood by the author, 

depicts the abundance of primordial vegetation freely 

suspended in space, contrary to emptiness and darkness,

 save the twinkling stars in romantic fantasy. 

Our planet Earth is but a grain of sand

      in the universe; 

little do we know what is far beyond 

     since the Big Bang's burst. 

What is emptiness in outer space,

     but life in darkness;

the elements found on earth abound

     in the same likeness.

Eden is not lost after all, we praise; 

     so with life before;

our little knowledge of the Mystery 

      leads us to its core. ~

*The Allegory of the Cave, or Plato's Cave, is an allegory presented by the Greek philosopher Plato in his work Republic to compare "the effect of education and the lack of it on our nature". It is written as a dialogue between Plato's brother Glaucon and his mentor Socrates, narrated by the latter. Wikipedia

** In Greek mythology, Aergia, (ancient Greek: Ἀεργία, 'inactivity') is the personification of sloth, idleness, indolence and laziness.

Go back to the basics in art

                                   Go back to the basics in art  

 Dr Abe V Rotor

Composite Landscape in acrylic by the author using the 

three primary colors; brush and finger painting, 2022

Go back to the basics: use only the three primary colors, and white freely for base, shade and hues;  water-based paint rather than oil for amateurs or by preference, and use simple brushes, your fingers, and other devices.

Go back to the basics: use imagination rather than copy others' works or photographs, better still go for on-the-spot painting; painting is leisure, a breakaway, expression of freedom, nature-friendly, peace, reverence.

Go back to the basics: there is no wrong art; art is theory, your own and no one else's; and you are the primary judge to its meaning, quality, and interpretation, eventhough there's a saying "it's in the eyes of the beholder."   

Go back to the basics: "Carpe diem"* (seize the day), capture the fleeting moment, and subject, its freshness, relevance to time and space (periodicity), for true beauty is ephemeral - and it will never come back again.

Go back to the basics: don't be a conformist per se; break away from the conventional  and impasse in search for a meaning, in "fighting for a cause" that will set you free through art, as in Luna's Spolarium** and Picasso's Guernica.***

Go back to the basics: never desecrate,  rebel without a cause; art is an epitome of values, treasure of mankind, for which art is referred to as humanities (humanus), integrated into various forms - spatial, auditory (music), literature (prose and poetry) and performing arts (drama and stage/screen play).

Go back to the basics: don't be limited to a school - evolve, adapt to change without losing your expression and freedom; learn from Goya, , Rembrandt and Monet - their golden years yielded their masterpieces; leave ultimately to posterity and providence the fate of your art and you as the artist.  

*Carpe diem suggests “enjoy the present while it is ripe.” On its own, carpe diem is recorded in English in 1817 in the letters of another famed poet, Lord Byron. The expression is quoted from the movie, Dead Poet Society.

** Spolarium or Spollarium is the depiction of Roman cruelty in the painting by Filipino artist and hero Juan Luna, interpreted as an allegory for the state of the Philippines under Spanish rule.

***Guernica is a large 1937 oil painting on canvas by Spanish artist Pablo Picasso, the most moving and powerful anti-war painting in history. It is exhibited in the Museo Reina Sofía in Madrid.

Golden Shower - Nature's Regal Confetti

Golden Shower 

- Nature's Regal Confetti 

By Abe V Rotor

Inflorescence of Golden Shower (Cassia fistula) hangs

in the lazy summer air, confetti to promenaders

and weary passersby. 

The Siberian High lulls you to sleep,

     While summer heralds your birth 

Into a kingdom regal yet brief 

     That reigns over a parched earth. 

You greet the sun with garlands of gold, 

     Dancing the whole day through; 

And soon explode into a thousand fold, 

     Only to fall and cease to grow. 

Sybil’s ghost hangs, flowerless you stand, 

     Save pods dangling in dull chime 

In the wind - then fall to the ground. 

    ‘Tis the end of summer time.~

                                                           Acknowledgement: Internet photos

The blackbird is back - so with other threatened animals

 The blackbird is back - so with other threatened animals

Dr Abe V Rotor

Blackbird (Martines), Drynaria fern and towering acacia tree make
an ecological sanctuary, together with a host of other organisms
that depend on them. Tagudin, Ilocos Sur.

In less than a human lifetime, dozens of wildlife species have rebounded from the brink of extinction - and are establishing their territory in suburbs. Here are twenty (20) animals that have made a remarkable comeback.

• Kiyoaw or Oriole (a family of 4 to 6 members frequent our backyard trees, just outside the La Mesa Reservoir watershed)
• Reticulated python or sawa (a one-meter baby sawa was ensconced in a burnay or earthen pot.)
• Fireflies (They can be observed on empty lots adjacent to the Sacred Heart seminary, Novaliches QC
• Pipit (popularized ina song of the same title, local counterpart of the humming bird)
• Tuka'k Ba-ug (bellied frog, long thought to have succumbed to pesticides. See separate article in this blog)
• Skink or alibut Ilk (Twice in ten years I spotted this shiny ground lizard at home near the La Mesa watershed.
• Gecko Lizard (Tuko or tekka Ilk., hunted for its alleged aphrodisiac value)
• Atlas moth (biggest of all insects by wing span, threatened by the gradual disappearance of native santol being replaced by the Bangkok variety)
• Black Bear (Prowler in the kitchen and on garbage when hungry)
• Canada Goose (Remember Fly Away Home ?)
• Alligator (relative of the crocodile, we don't have alligators, instead crocodiles - they are coming back, too)
• Gray Wolf (found in wastelands and open areas)
• Deer (rebounded in no-hunting forests and grasslands)
• Wild Turkey (particularly in the US and Canada)
• Cougar (relative of the wolf in the US)
• Beaver (natural dam builder of forest streams in temperate countries)
• Raccoon (common in North America)
• Wild Pig (baboy ramo, alingo Ilk, one of the most popular game animals; it is a pest of nearby farms, feeding on root crops and succulents, Our native pigs are the progeny of a cross indigenous and wild genes.)
• Rhinoceros beetle (appears like Triceratops, with three horns, apparently the male; the female has shorter horns)
• Wildcat (In China the civet cat, counterpart of our musang, is invading homes. One reason for its comeback is that it eats fresh coffee bean and defecate the seed which is then ground into a special blend that commands a lucrative price.)
• 
  
• 

Garden Skink; Wild Pig (baboy ramo)

This is one for the biologist and ecologist. I say, it's one for the Book of Guinness record.

Up high in a dozen centuries old acacia trees, reaching up to 10 storeys high, their boughs and branches clothed with epiphytic ferns, I found the long lost blackbirds, we callmartines in Ilocano.

I was then in the grade school in San Vicente (Ilocos Sur) when I saw the last martines bird. But here on a Black Friday on top of these towering trees, there is the lost bird, in fact several of them in pairs and families. It is like the Coelacanth, a primitive fish thought to have long been extinct, suddenly rising from the depth of the craggy Madagascar sea. Its fossil in rock tells us it is 40 million years old. And here it is - alive and has not changed! The fossil fish is alive! So with the Martines!

The blackbirds have made the towering acacia trees their home and natural habitat, building their nests on the Drynaria fern. The fern grows on the branches, reaching the peak of its growth during the rainy season when the host tree sheds its leaves, in effect allowing sunlight to nurture the fern.

The fern has dimorphic leaves. The primary ones are long and shaped like stag horn and bear sori or spore sacs, while the other kind is shaped and arranged like shingles, enclosing the fern's rhizome. Like all ferns, Drynaria undergoes alternation of generations - the spore-forming phase and gamete-forming phase. It is the sporophytic or asexual generation that the fern plant is familiar to us. It is typically made of roots, stems and leaves - but never flowers and fruits. It is for this that ferns are classified separately from seed-forming and flowering plants. They belong to Division Pterophyta.

In the dry season, the fern becomes dormant, appearing dry and lifeless from the outside, but shielded by the shingles the fleshy rhizome waits for the rain and sunlight - and the shedding of the host tree. Then almost at an instant the fern springs to life, carpeting entire boughs and branches.

Now it's the tree's turn. In summer, while the fern is dormant, it builds a new crown, and together with those of the adjoining trees form a huge canopy that makes a perfect shade. This could be one reason the friars in the 15th century thought of introducing the acacia (Samanea saman) from Mexico to be planted around churches and convents.

Not only that the acacia is the biggest legume in the world; it is self-fertilizing and self supporting, and sharing its resources to countless organisms from earthworm to humans. How is this possible?

The acacia harbors in its roots symbionts - Rhizobium bacteria that convert the element Nitrogen (N) into Nitrate (NO3). Only then can N that comprises 78 percent of the air we breathe can be used by plants to manufacture food by photosynthesis.

And with the deciduous character of the tree, dead leaves form a litter on the ground that makes a good mulch and later becomes compost - a natural fertilizer for the tree, surrounding plants, microorganisms and animals. Then as the pods of the tree ripen and drop to the ground, animals like goats come around to feed on them and in effect enrich the ground. The tree's efficient physiology and symbiotic potential with other organisms make it not only one of the most self-reliant trees in the world, but a miniature ecosystem in itself.

We see today very old acacia trees in these places, just like those around the old St Agustine church in Tagudin built in the 16th century where I found the blackbirds among the Drynaria ferns at their tops. Tagudin is the southernmost town of Ilocos Sur, some 330 kilometers north of Manila - a good five-hour drive. It continues to attract northbound tourists to have a stopover and see this spectacle, among other attractions of this old town, such as its native handicrafts, pristine seashore and progressive upland agriculture.

Going back to the blackbirds, why do we give much importance to them? Well, the blackbirds protect both tree and fern from insects and other pests, and fertilize them with their droppings. They too, are gleaners and help keep the environment clean. Unlike the house sparrow, ground fowls and the crow, they are not nuisance to the place; their presence is barely felt except for their occasional calls which sound quite sonorous but nonetheless pleasant, and their display during flight of a queer pair of white spots on their wings. I developed the liking to watch them for hours - their gentle movement, familial ways, although they do not as gregarious as pigeons, and their glossy black bodies distinct from the surrounding and against the sky. They make a good specimen for bird watching and photography.

Beyond the aesthetics about the bird, I learned from my good friend Dr. Anselmo Set Cabigan, a fellow biologist and science professor, that the martines was introduced from Guam on instruction of a Spanish Governor General to control locust infestation in the Philippines. This is the first case of applying the principle of biological control in the Philippines - and perhaps elsewhere - which was then too advance in its time. Today, biological control is practiced worldwide as part of Integrated Pest Management (IPM), a holistic approach in dealing with all kinds of pests which include pathogens.

Locust (Locusta migratoria manilensis) is a scourge to agriculture in many countries since prehistoric times. I have witnessed how a swarm of locust devour complete fields of rice and corn, and other crops overnight. During swarming the sky darkens as sheer numbers of these flying insects block the sky. And as they ride on the wind they produce a deafening hissing sound that adds terror to farmers and inhabitants.

And why was the matines bird the chosen nemesis of the locust? It clearly shows the efficiency of this predator. Actually predation is most effective when the locust is still in its non-migratory phase, specifically during the congregans - more so when it is in the solitaria phase. The bird immediately checks the pest before it develops into enormous population - and reach its swarming stage.

I believe that the triad formed by the acacia tree, Drynaria fern and the blackbirds is the beginning of an emerging ecosystem where wildlife and human settlement meet in cooperation and harmony. It is a zone where Nature re-builds spent environments and creates intermediate types, in which the role of man is basically to let nature's laws and rules to prevail. For example, doves and pigeons in public squares and plazas in many parts of the world are learning to trust people, and many people are just too happy to share their homes and other resources with them. They are planting trees and setting up more and wider parks for the wildlife.

For one, Japan now requires the greening of rooftops of buildings through gardening dubbed aeroponics, and by putting up ecological sanctuaries to attract wildlife to settle in them. In Europe on the other hand, miles and miles of hedges have evolved into a unique ecosystem, that one can no longer differentiate a well-established hedge from a natural vegetation. Also in Europe, woodlands which are actually broad strips that serve as boundaries of fields and pastures, are gaining through time higher biodiversity levels, and moving towards dynamic stability, called in ecology as homeostasis.

The Philippines is not behind. We have multi-storey orchards in Cavite, Batangas and Laguna that simulate the structure of a tropical rain forest long before the term ecology was coined. And many basins of ricefields and sumps of irrigation systems have become natural ponds.

The 38th parallel dividing the whole length of warring North Korea and South Korea – a strip of no man’s land, twenty kilometers at its widest – has developed, since the armistice in 1958, into a natural wildlife sanctuary. Today it has a very high level of biodiversity and distinct from any reservation on either side of this highly restricted boundary.

These neo-ecological zones are sprouting from backyards, parks, submerged coastlines, denuded mountains, and the like. Even contiguous idle lots – and abandoned fishponds, farms and settlements - are slowly but steadily becoming bastions of wildlife.

Truly, the case of the centuries old acacia trees where the Drynaria and the martines birds, and man living with them in peace and in harmony - is a manifestation of Nature's triumph. It is triumph to us and the living world. ~

Grotesque looking acacia tree clothed with Drynaria fern towers 

over church and convent in Tagudin, Ilocos Sur. Photographs

taken with an SLR Digital Camera with 300 mm telephoto lens.

Reference Time, December 9, 2013

Part 1 - NATURE Paintings with Verses: DOVES IN THE BLUE SKY

Part 1 - NATURE Paintings with Verses

By Dr Abe V Rotor

DOVES IN THE BLUE SKY

Painting in acrylic ( 29.5” x 24.5”)

Fly high and spread peace

before the coming of storm,

truce in the battlefield,

brotherhood its norm.

WHERE HAS THE PAINTER GONE?

Painting in acrylic by a child participant in an art

workshop conducted by the author in his residence

in San Vicente, Ilocos Sur, 2016. The abandoned

palette board was later discovered under a mango

tree where on-the-spot sessions were held.

Work of art abandoned,

a brush with the paint dry

on a palette board;

“Where has the painter gone?

Had he taken the canvas,

in lieu of a masterpiece?”

FIREWORKS GARDEN

Painting in acrylic (15.5” X 32”)

Celebration in foliage and blossom

In some corner of Eden, Behold!

Green thumb has made to bloom;

Move over flash and thunder bold.

STILL LIFE

Painting in acrylic (24.5 x 32”)

Fruits from different lands and seasons,

gifts to man Ceres and Epicurus gave

for his health and many other reasons;

from which too, the best wines are made.

A HEART ON THE WALL

Painting in acrylic (16.5" x 18")

Oh, heart on the wall

do you still feel?

Do you still throb -

the throb of love?

Ivy, ivy on the wall,

don't hide

a living heart.

RED SUN IN THE FOREST

Painting in acrylic (11” x 14”)

Green umbrella against global warming,

man’s primitive dwelling;

he has all reasons to revive this craving

as it was in the beginning.

WATERSHED

Painting in acrylic (19.5” x 30”)

I paint the stream laugh and cry,

and hiss over the rock;

the clouds on the mountain high,

down the sea and back.

Sun and rain the life of the stream,

the hills and watershed,

music of the wind and sunbeam

shining over our head. ~

BOUQUET

Painting in acrylic (17.5” x 18.5”)

Bouquet - how fresh,

picked for vase or lei;

how withered and shy

at the end of day.

Bouquet - how missed

the bee, the butterfly

in the garden, the rainbow

in the sky. ~

Remembering GOMBURZA (Feb 17, 2022: Father Jose Burgos - Idealist, Scholar and Hero

Father Jose Burgos

- Idealist, Scholar and Hero

Jose Burgos opened the gateway to Philippine Independence from Spain.

By Dr Abe V Rotor

Excerpt from author's response on receiving the Father Jose Burgos

 Achievement Award 2015

“But I am innocent!”
“So was Jesus Christ," said one of the friars. At this point Burgos resigned himself. The executioner knelt at his feet and asked his forgiveness. “I forgive you, my son. Do your duty.” And it was done.


Jose Apolonio Burgos y Garcia (February 9, 1837 – February 17, 1872). 

He was only 35 at the time of his execution.

I am transported back in history, 143 years ago to be exact, as I receive this prestigious award.  There I see a very young Filipino priest, together with two other priests, being garroted to death. I cry with my heart out to stop the barbaric, dastardly act. But then I realize what martyrdom truly means, and that is, death brings forth a new beginning, a new life, new hope from the cause for which the martyr gives his life.

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Burgos was the last, a refinement of cruelty that compelled him to watch the death of his companions. He seated himself on the iron rest and then sprang up crying: “But what crime have I committed? Is it possible that I should die like this. My God, is there no justice on earth?”

A dozen friars surrounded him and pressed him down again upon the seat of the garrote, pleading with him to die a Christian death. He obeyed but, feeling his arms tied round the fatal post, protested once again: “But I am innocent!”

“So was Jesus Christ," said one of the friars.” At this Burgos resigned himself. The executioner knelt at his feet and asked his forgiveness. “I forgive you, my son. Do your duty.” And it was done.

(Veneracion quotes Leon Ma. Guerrero’s The First Filipino: “We are told that the crowd, seeing the executioner fall to his knees, suddenly did the same, saying the prayers to the dying. Many Spaniards thought it was the beginning of an attack and fled panic-stricken to the Walled City.”)
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As I stand at the foot of his monument today, I feel unworthy of the cause Father Burgos gave his life. His name forever lives in the annals of history not only for his countrymen, but for all peoples of the world. His death stirred a revolution that paved the way to Philippine independence from Spanish colonialism. It marked the beginning of a new era – the end of colonization, followed by the birth of new nations. 

It is this incident with acronym GOMBURZA (Gomez, Burgos and Zamora for the three martyrs) that virtually started the Philippine Revolution. It was later inflamed by the power of the pen of Jose Rizal, our national hero, followed by armed mass uprising led by Andres Bonifacio, consequently the raising of the first Philippine flag by Emilio Aguinaldo.

Execution of the three priests, Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora by garrote

I trace the roots of Father Burgos in Vigan, the provincial capital of Ilocos Sur, now a UNESCO World Heritage city. Our hero’s home is now a veritable museum; a plaza is dedicated to him, at the center rises his monument, his statue pensive and scholarly, indeed a pose relective of his extraordinary academic record at San Juan de Letran and University of Santo Tomas where he earned three baccalaureate degrees and two doctorate degrees, with a third for final completion. Indeed this achievement serves to inspire our youth today to study hard and give education the highest priority.

What crime did our hero commit to deserve capital punishment and justify his death? We can only surmise who the victim was in a master-slave society. Burgos stood for and on behalf of his fellow Filipino clergy against abuses and discrimination by Spanish friars, which was taken as a serious threat to the Spanish government and grave offence to the church hierarchy. Burgos' implication in a mutiny in nearby Cavite, sealed his fate. He was placed in a mock trial and summarily executed in Bagumbayan, now Luneta, along two other clergymen. When dawn broke on the 17th of February there were almost forty thousand Filipinos (who came from as far as Bulakan, Pampanga, Kabite and Laguna) surrounding the four platforms where the three priests and the man whose testimony had convicted them, a former artilleryman called Saldua, would die.

Execution Scene by an Eyewitness

I imagine the scene of the execution from the account of a witness, Frenchman Edmund Plauchut, when Burgos, the last to die after seeing his two compatriots met their death suddenly stood from the garrote seat shouting, “What crime have I committed to deserve such a death? Is there no justice in the world?” Twelve friars of different orders restrained him and push him back into seat, advising him to accept a Christian death. Burgos calmed down, but went on again shouting, “But I haven’t committed any crime!” At this point, one of the friars holding him down hissed, “Even Christ was innocent!” Burgos finally gave in to the executioners who broke his neck with one swift and sudden twist of the garrote handle. 

It is a re-enactment of Christ’s passion and death, except that the leaders of the church are the very persecutors! Christ was killed by his enemies, Burgos by his friends and colleagues!

Burgos as Outstanding Thomasian  

Burgos’ death opened the road to freedom from the Spanish colonial masters. But what is the relevance of Burgos’ martyrdom today? I ask my students at the University of Santo Tomas of their impressions of Dr Jose Burgos was an alumnus and professor of the university. They regarded him with high esteem - as a great man and hero like Rizal who also studied at UST. Both were exemplary models in the pursuit of education, and higher education at that. Burgos was not only a very good student, he taught us that there is no end to learning. Thus the importance of a continuing education as a way of life. My co-professors also uphold the idea that the pursuit of knowledge on the level of philosophy elevates the learned person on the highest level of scholarship. This is where knowledge transforms into wisdom. Philosophy is love of knowledge, an extraordinary discipline open to all.

GOMBURZA  at the Bonifacio Monument in Caloocan MM

The name Burgos is enshrined in eight municipalities in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Isabela, La Union, Pangasinan, Quezon, Southern Leyte and Surigao del Norte. There are also roads, schools, organizations named after him.

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“Burgos’ nationalist views, codified in editorials, essays, championing political and ecclesiastic reforms in favor of empowering more native clergymen, made him a target of opposition to civil authorities.” – The True Life of Jose Burgos (Ang Tunay na Buhay ni Jose Burgos.)
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As one of the most important events in Philippine history the significance of GOMBURZA is taught in schools. History books by Teodoro Agoncillo, Gregorio Zaide, et al point to this event important in arousing national consciousness for freedom. It influenced Filipino leaders to carry on the great task, among them Rizal who dedicated his second novel, El Filibusterismo to Burgos. 

Burgos' Influence on Rizal and Jacinto 

In Rizal's letter 18 APRIL 1889 to Mariano Ponce, another compatriot, he said, “Without 1872 (GOMBURZA execution) there would not now be a Plaridel, a Jaena, a Sanciangco, nor would the brave and generous Filipino comrades exist in Europe." Without 1872 Rizal imagined he would now be a Jesuit and instead of writing the Noli Me Tangere, would have written the contrary. "At the sight of those injustices and cruelties, though still a child, my imagination awoke, and I swore to dedicate myself to avenge one day so many victims. With this idea I have gone on studying, and this can be read in all my works and writings. God will grant me one day to fulfill my promise.” 

On April 30, 1896 at the height of The Philippine Revolution General Emilio Jacinto recalled the GOMBURZA Execution. Author Jim Richardson wrote: “The day that Gomez, Burgos and Zamora were executed, writes Jacinto, was a day of degradation and wretchedness. Twenty-four years had since passed, but the excruciating wound inflicted that day on Tagalog hearts had never healed; the bleeding had never been staunched. Though the lives of the three priests had been extinguished that day, their legacy would endure forever. Their compatriots would honor their memory, and would seek to emulate their pursuit of truth and justice. As yet, Jacinto acknowledges, some were not fully ready to embrace those ideals, either because they failed to appreciate the need for solidarity and unity or because their minds were still clouded by the smoke of a mendacious Church. But those who could no longer tolerate oppression were now looking forward to a different way of life, to a splendid new dawn.” 

Father Jose Burgos Achievement Awards 

Burgos’ is honored in an annual celebration KANNAWIDAN (Heritage) in his birthplace Vigan which honors the province’s outstanding sons and daughters with Father Jose Burgos Achievement Awards and Recognition, dubbed the Nobel Prize among Ilocanos, in like manner the Ramon Masaysay Award is regarded as the Nobel Prize of Asia.

Where are the Writings of Burgos? 

There are 44 known works of Burgos, mostly unpublished and unlocated, 12 were in manuscripts and preserved in Luis Araneta collection in Manila. Topics gleamed from the titles include the following (translated from Spanish):

1. Shells in the Philippines
2. History of Roman Religion in the Philippines and its Mysteries
3. State of the Philippines at the arrival of the Spaniard
4. Studies on Philippine life in prehistoric time
5. What is a Friar?
6. What is the Bible and how to interpret is
7. Studies of archaeology of Manila at the arrival of the Spaniards
8. Philippine stories and legends
9. Corruption bathed in blood in the Roman religion
10. Religion vs Science (annotated by Rizal?)
11. How religions are formed
12. Are Miracles True?
13. Can religion make man better?
14. Studies of fishing in the Philippines,
15. Philippine Kings,
16. Mysteries of the Holy Inquisition in the Philippines,
17. Reforms necessary for the country,
18. Is the end of the world at hand?
19. Cultivation of intelligence in this country,
20. Comparative study of savage rituals, Crime in old Manila

But where are the original manuscripts? Why weren’t they printed and translated. Was it part of the silencing of this great Filipino Scholar? Allegedly too, Burgos' works were faked to the extent probably to discredit him and erase his name from any significant aftermath against the Spanish government and the church. Discovered as fake is La Loba Negra ( Black She-Wolf), printed and made into a play and dance.

Burgos rekindled Liberty. Equality and Fraternity, 
the trilogy of the French Revolution of 1789

The life and death of Jose Burgos rekindles the trilogy of the French Revolution 100 years before. Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was a battle cry for ten long years of struggle until the Monarchy toppled. The triad became the foundation of constitutions of a number of countries including the US and the Philippines. In effect, the martyrdom of Burgos, Rizal et al, brought a new meaning of the trilogy in contemporary society. GOMBURZA paved the way to Philippine Independence from Spain, and continued to inspire Filipinos onward. Today we face threats to that cause locally and globally, a test whether or not we have truly imbibed the timeless great lessons from our great heroes. 

 References:
1. Life and Works of the Three Martyred priests GOMBURZA
2. The True Life of Jose Burgos (Ang Tunay na Buhay ni Jose Burgos.) 
3. Ambeth Ocampo, The Incredible Father Burgos
4. Leon Ma. Guerrero,  The First Filipino 

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NOTE:  The author studied at UST for his doctorate degree (Ph.D. Biological Science 1986 Meritissimus), thereafter he was appointed professor at the university's Graduate School and Faculty of Arts and Letters for 30 years. The author studied in Vigan for his high school at the Colegio de la Imaculada Conception, now Divine Word College of Vigan. He is a native and resident of San Vicente, a town three kilometers west of now Metro Vigan, a UNESCO Heritage City.   

Green Revolution at the Grassroots in Post Pandemic Times:

Green Revolution at the Grassroots in Post-Pandemic Times

Answer Key to Self-Administered Test (50 Items)

Dr Abe V Rotor

Food Hierarchy

Part 1: True or False

1. Green Revolution is a term that refers to the development of agriculture, tracing it from the time man settled down to raise animals and plants up to the present in which genetically modified organisms (GMO) of plants and animals are being produced.

2. Green revolution does not encompass agro-processing such as the making of brewed coffee beans, patis and bagoong, wine and vinegar, milk, cheese and ham, and the like – because these are beyond the farmer’s capability - financially and technically

3. Green revolution must fit well into the demands of the market, which means that the raising of crops and animal and all attendant activities must conform to such “market directed” principle

4. We are still nomadic like our primitive ancestors were, in the sense that we still derive much of our food and other needs from the sea, hills and forest. Furthermore, we travel far and wide from our homes and families in search of our basic economic needs – food, clothing, shelter and energy. This neo-nomadic syndrome has been spurred by our modern way of living influenced by overpopulation, industrialization, science and technology.

5. Growing affluence and increasing level of living standard takes us farther and farther away from the basic concept of green revolution, whereby ideally a family lives under one roof guaranteed by the bounty of the land the members cultivate, and historically built within framework of culture and tradition.

History tells us: Food shortage

leads to people's revolution

6. Based on the previous question, growing affluence and standard of living is the reason why modern China cannot prevent its thousands – nay millions – of young inhabitants to move out of the confines of a once socialistic confine in search of the Good Life that they very much deserve.

7. The least sprayed vegetables – that is, vegetables that do not necessarily require the application of pesticides – are those that grow wild. Thus the ruling is, the more native a vegetable is, the more resistant it is to pest.

8. Green Revolution started as a movement in the Philippines way back in the fifties with the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement during the time of President Ramon Magsaysay, with the youth at the helm, led by 4-H Clubs, Rural Improvement Clubs (RIC), Boys Scouts and Girls Scouts, public and elementary schoolchildren, and barrio folks.

9. The crowning glory of Philippine Green Revolution was the attainment of self-sufficiency in food and other agricultural products following a food crisis in the early seventies. Through M-99, Maisan 77, and many barangay food production programs, the country even surpassed sufficiency level and became a net exporter of rice and other food commodities.

10. When you introduce a new plant in your garden – a plant that has not been tried before – you are sure it is virtually free of pests, firstly because it did not bring with it the pests from its origin, and second, the local pests would take time to develop the taste for it.

11. The longest stage or phase of Green Revolution was the expansion of horizons during the colonial period whereby land was forcibly taken and consolidated into estates and haciendas by the colonists. One such case is our own haciendas, a number of them still are still existing and operating like President Cory’s family hacienda – Luisita – which was singularly exempted from land reform.

12. The corporate world swallowed up small businesses including small farms in the US, Europe and in fact all over the world, such that the capitalist robbed the entrepreneur of his resources, technology, market, and worst, his potentials and therefore his future. (Economies of scale –is this the nemesis of small business?)

 

"Native" food is more nutritious, safe from unwanted substances, available, and affordable. Can you identify the ingredients in each of these two food preparations?

13. Today’s fast emerging technologies continue to favor the capitalist thus making him grow even bigger (examples: McDonalds, San Miguel, Robina, Nestle’ and Jollibee conglomerate). This is what social scientists call Neo-colonialism, a kind of agriculture reminiscent of the colonial times. (Or is the trend today the opposite - the dinosaur syndrome is killing the beast.)

14. The most nutritious of all vegetables in terms of protein are those belonging to the legume family. In fact a number of legumes have higher protein content than meat.

15. If we rank from highest to lowest in protein content these vegetables should be listed as follows: soybean, segidillas or calamismis (pallang), mungo, tomato, malunggay.

16. It is better to specialize on certain crops in your garden for practical management. If leafy vegetables, plant pechay, lettuce, mustard, alugbati, talinum, and you need the same kind of soil, topography, amount of water, tools, planting schedule and season, and market.

17. Mang Tonio is a simple farmer. He plants rice in his small paddy once a year because this is what other farms are doing, and it is tradition in the area. They say don’t break away sa naka-ugalihan. If you agree with Mang Tonio answer true, if not false.

18. It is possible that a one-hectare farm can produce as much as a four-hectare farm does, even without additional amounts of inputs like fertilizer, pesticide and water.

Food poisoning comes mainly from processed food. Grow your own food instead. Garden-to-table food gives the best security, among other benefits.

19. The idea of cottage agro-industry is to make use of inferior quality products that bring more profit or value-added advantage. Examples: immature and broken peanut into butter, overripe banana and tomato for catsup, fruit fly infested guava and mango for puree; typhoon damaged sugarcane into vinegar, bansot piglet into lechon, unsold fish and shrimps into bagoong and patis, and the like.

20. Samaka is a movement, acronym of Samahan ng Masaganang Kakanin – the united effort of a group to have more plentiful food for their families. It is the precursor of successful food production programs later led by PACD (Presidential Arm in Community Development), RCPCC (Rice and Corn Production Coordinating Program) later to become National Food and Agriculture Council (NFAC) which implemented Masagana 99, Maisan 77, Manukan Barangay, Bakahang Barangay, Wheat Production, Soybean Production, and other production programs then under President Marcos. Unfortunately all these were virtually erased after the Edsa Revolution.

Don't be a captive of this bandwagon, and victim of Fast Food Syndrome.

21. Botanically speaking, the parts of these plants we eat are classified as follows: cassava tuber is a root, so with kamote, peanut is a fruit, potato tuber is a stem, onion bulb is a leaf.

22. When buying papaya, the more yellow the fruit appears, the more mature it had been picked from the tree. Avoid buying papaya that appears dominantly green and yellow or orange only at the ridges.

23. There are five kinds of vegetables according to the parts of the plant (botanical classification). The following are classified under at least two kinds: squash or kalabasa, ampalaya, malunggay, sinkamas, short sitao or paayap.

24. The production capacity of genetically modified crops of corn, potato, and soybean – the most common GMO food we are taking every day - has increased even without increasing the supply of nutrients in the soil. GMOs are the world’s ultimate recourse to feed an ever increasing population now approaching the 7 billion mark.

25. Our soil and climate are favorable to many crops. Let us plant our rice fields and corn fields after harvest season with the following crops so that we will not import them and spend precious dollars, and that, it is the Filipino farmer and not the foreign farmer whom we patronize and subsidize. Potato (potato fries), Soybean (soybean oil, TVP, tokwa, toyo, taho), White beans (pork and beans), wheat (pandesal, cake, noodles).

Home Garden

• 1. Let’s make a Lazy Man’s Garden at Home. What are plants considered literally tanim ng tamad, a syndrome many Filipinos fall into, a little bit of every thing (tingi-tingi), ningas kogon, makakalimutin, kulang sa tiyaga, and mapabaya’: papaya, malunggay, siling katuray, ube, patola, kondol, upon, alugbati, talinum, patani, batao, segidillas, kumpitis.

• 2. Ano-ano ang mga halaman na nakakain na hindi itinatanim. (What edible plants simply grow spontaneously)

26. The role of Green Revolution generates in supplying food of a fast growing population is foremost even at the expense of clearing forest, leveling hillsides, reclaiming swamps – and even farming the sea.

27. Talinum is a small tree that is why it is so easy to grow, and will last for a long time, season after season and you have vegetables throughout the year. Alugbati is tree like malunggay. In fact they usually grow together in some forgotten corner, along dikes and fences, around open well, and does not need care at all practically speaking. Alugbati is best as salad, cooked with mungo, beef stew, sinigang, bulanglang.

28. Agro-ecology will always clash – there is no compromise. Either you are an ecologist or you are an economist. Take eco-tourism, eco-village, etc.)

29. All these plants are propagated by cutting. All you need to do is cut-and-plant a branch or stem – malunggay, kakawate or madre de cacao, katuray, ipil-ipil, cassava, sugarcane, talinum, alugbati, kamias.

30. Homesite for the Golden Years (HGY) which we launched on PBH last February 14 this year has the features of a integrated garden, enterprise, agro-industry, eco-sanctuary. The key is to supply this Patch of Eden (A Slice of Paradise) with all the amenities of modern living.

31. The area required for a Homesite for the Golden Years is greatly variable and flexible; it can be as small as 100 square meters to 10 hectares in area. This allows evolution of as many models as one could think of.

32. The numerous hanging round fruits (tubers) on the stem of ube are the ones we plant, especially on large scale.

33. Acclimatization means helping introduced plants and animals get adapted to their new environment. There are those that succeed but can’t reproduce; while others become better of that their counterparts they left behind.

34. Based on the previous question, there are plants that have not been fully acclimatized even after many years so that extreme attention is given to them like Crucifers – cauliflower, cabbage, wonbok, celery, lettuce, broccoli.

35. Bagging with ordinary paper and/or plastic bags and sacks is necessary to protect from the dreaded fruit fly the fruits of guava, mango, jackfruit, ampalaya, durian, orange, avocado, mangosteen, guyabano and atis.

36. Green thumb is a gift of naturalism. Only those who have this genetic gift are chosen caretakers of God’s Garden of Eden. Others have the equivalent gift in taking care of aquariums, house pets, children’s nursery.

37. We have our local pansit: sotanghon comes from rice while bihon comes mungo. We import noodles, miki and lomi made from wheat, while macaroni and spaghetti are made from semolina wheat or pasta.

Alternative food source: Spirulina is a one-celled protein food traced to our ancestors.

38. Value-added, a term in manufacturing gave rise to a new taxation E-VAT. To cope up with the added burden on the part of both entrepreneur and consumer, why not process your product and get instead the benefit of the new law? Example. Don’t just sell your palay harvest, have it milled sold as rice, make flour out of it, make puto and bihon, and others.

39. Based on the same question above, to get the benefits of VAT, market your own produce; be an entrepreneur, a middleman/trader and of course, a producer.

40. Start by planting the seeds of the following crops if you go wish into immediate commercial production – because the seeds of these plants are plentiful, you have no problem of supply: chico, guava, orange, mango, rambutan, lanzones, avocado, tiesa, atis, guayabano – as well as others that produce plenty of seeds. That’s how nature intended it to be.

     Food Crisis: Either we do not have enough or we cannot afford to have enough.

41. Seeds always turn out genetically true to type. Big mango fruits come from seeds of big mango fruits, big guava means big guava, sweet pomelo – sweet pomelo, seedless atis – seedless atis, red pakwan – red pakwan.

42. Just follow the direction of the sun when you plant by rows and plots – north to south, so that there is less overshadowing of plants. In this case you may increase your harvest by as much as 10 percent.

43. Extend the shelf life of fruits such as mango, avocado, atis, guayabano, nangka, by rubbing salt at the end of the stem, the base of the fruit.

44. Momordica charantia is the scientific name of ampalaya. Why spend for commercial food supplement in bottle, syrup, tablets, pills or dry herbal preparations as advertised - Momordica or Charantia, or Ampalaya Plus? (Write true for each recipe, if correct)

• All you need is buy a bundle of fresh ampalaya tops made into salad and dipped with bagoong and vinegar. It’s good for the whole family.

• Or add ampalaya leaves to mungo and dried fish or sautéed pork.

• Pinakbet anyone? Native or wild ampalaya cut in half or quarter without severing the cut.

• Ampalaya at delatang sardinas.

50. Ordinary people like anyone of us can secure for ourselves and family enough food and proper nutrition. This is food security in action. It is food security that gives us real peace of mind. 

The biological basis does not need farther explanation. It is the key to unity and harmony in the living world. Queuing for rice defeats the image of a strong economy. High prices of food do not give a good reflection either. 

How about ASEA, UN, WHO? ASEAN commitment to regional food security, food aid from the UN or US may simply ease the impact of food shortage or inequity in its distribution, but they are but palliative measures. 

And having a dreamer Joseph in public food depot is not reliable either. It is green revolution at the grassroots that assures us of not only food but other necessities of life – and self employment. It is that piece of Paradise that has long been lost that resurrect in some corner of your home. Paradise is not lost, if you create one. Do you agree?

Let us protect our own products against imported and smuggled fruits and vegetables.

Trivia:
Who is Who in the field of agriculture and life science in the Philippines
1. If there is a Luther Burbank, the American plant wizard, who is our own in the Philippines (___________________________, foremost plant breeder of the Philippines)

2. The greatest and most popular authority of medicinal plants in the Philippines (___________________________, Medicinal Plants of the Philippines)

3. Filipino scientist who occupied the highest position in the UN FAO? (________________________, Regional chief of UN-FAO for Asia and the Pacific)

4. Her name is an institution in children's health care, founder of Children's Hospital and inventor of nursery incubation chamber, among other invention (___________________)

5. His discovery of the cause of cadang-cadang disease of coconut lead to effective control of the disease threatening to wipeout the coconut industry in the Philippines (________________________________)

6. First director or International Institute for Rural Reconstruction, author of Alternative Medicine, anti-smoking in public places, school and advertisement. (_____________________________)

7. Man behind food self-sufficiency, M-99 that led the Philippine among the top rice producers in the 70s and 80s. (_______________________, Secretary of agriculture)

8. First Filipino allergologist, discovered a syndrome named after him, internationally adapted in hospitals and medical schools, served as executive secretary of presidents Quezon and Osmeña, discovered orchids also named after him. (___________________________).

9. Founder of the Nursing profession, brought into the profession respectability and dignity, service and selflessness, (_________________________, nationality ________________)

10. The greatest woman who ever lived in our times - epitome of love, compassion, faith, selflessness and dedication, a living saint (though less popular than Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana, In fact there were far less number people who paid their respects to her than Princess Diana who died and was buried at the same time.) _______________________ of ________________.

x x x

ANSWERS: Part 1: 1t 2f 3t 4t 5f 6t 7t 8t 9t 10f 11f 12t 13t 14t 15f 16f 17f 18t 19f 20t 21t 22f 23t 24f 25f 26f 27f 28f 29f 30t 31f 32f 33t 34t 35f 36f 37t 38t 39t 40f 41f 42f 43f 44 to 49 (all true) 50t

Part 2: 1. Nemesio Mendiola 2.Eduardo Quisumbing 3.Dioscorro Umali 4. Fe del Mundo 5. Gerardo Ocfemia 6.Juan Flavier 7. Arturo Tanco Jr 8.Arturo B Rotor 9. Florence Nightingale 10.Mother Teresa of Calcutta ~

 

Locally produced vegetables. Can you identify each one?

Acknowledgement: Thanks to Internet and other sources for the images shown in this article.