23/10/2019

Sometimes, We Miss To Recognize Golden Opportunities Even When They Are Staring Us In The Face!

It was the opportunity of a lifetime – and the University of the Philippines Los Baños blew it!

What If UP Los Baños invited as Guest of Honor new Secretary of Agriculture William Dar, an alumnus, to its Alumni Homecoming this year, on Wednesday 09 October, in conjunction with the 101st Loyalty Day Celebration on Thursday 10 October 2019? Loyalty Day every year is the most significant event that happens at the campus of UPLB because alumni are invited to attend from wherever they are in the world, and many do come. For one, I met Ed Quisumbing, who was working for the World Bank before; he now resides somewhere in the US. I also met him last year on Loyalty Day, as well as William Dar.

The new Secretary of Agriculture is a bonafide UPLB alumnus, having obtained his PhD in Horticulture from this university in 1980. If UP Los Baños had invited him as Guest Speaker during the Alumni Homecoming Day, 09 October, it could have been a very enriching experience, to say the least.

William Dar could have expounded on his thoughts about how to be a good Secretary of Agriculture, and the whole UPLB in attendance at Baker Hall could have interacted with him. It would have been a richly rewarding experience.

And of course the guest could have asked in return where UPLB people thought they could contribute much to solving the problems of PH Agriculture that has been neglected in the last 25 years. What a wonderful exchange that would have been!

Yes, but before Loyalty Day this year, I myself was not thinking such thoughts. On Loyalty Day itself, I was sitting on an honored chair (not mine) in front of the Dioscoro L Umali Audi at the campus of UP Los Baños watching the parade as each float stopped and did their prepared performances, simply or elaborately.

On one hand, I was thinking the presentation of the College of Development Communication, CDC, was unimpressive when it should have been attention-getting or at least eye-catching.

On the other hand, I was thinking the espaleklek banner was quite impressive – quite readable at a distance of 20 meters where the others were almost invisible. The message spoken was unimportant to me; the unspoken impressed me that they were proud to be part of the celebration.

And then I thought what if UP Los Baños had invited the new Secretary of Agriculture and given him a doctoral degree honoris causa in management because he has been the very first Director of the Bureau of Agricultural Research; Director General of the Philippine Council for Agriculture & Resources Research & Development; and the longest – 3-term or 15-year – Director General of the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, ICRISAT. Not to mention that he was the Secretary of Agriculture under Erap when the Philippines registered the highest aggie growth rate of 9.6%!

Wake up, UP Los Baños! Wake up and become relevant to PH Agriculture outside of the academe!@517

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