Philippine young scientists also went for the Moore at the international science & engineering fair

Team Philippines 2012.  Front row (l-r):  Julian Paolo Biyo, Elson Ian Nyl Galang, Carla Beatriz Lazara, Paul Caesar Flores, & Hazel Anne Hernandez.  Holding the Philippine flag (l-r): Lanz Gabriel Jabla, Bryce Abraham Anos, & Ven Gabriel Tan.

Around 1,500 high school students from around the world including our own Team Philippines 2012 of eight young science researchers departed for the Intel International Science & Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF) held recently (May 13-18) in Pittsburgh, PA all dreaming of the Moore.

The Gordon E. Moore award of $75,000 from Intel and the Society for Science & the Public (SSP) "recognizes the Best of the Best among outstanding students from around the world who participate in the Intel ISEF."  The next two Bests get the Intel Foundation Young Scientists Award of $50,000 each.  The candidates for awards can be an individual researcher or a team of at most three members.

Before they could qualify for the three Best of the Bests, the young scientists vie for four grand awards and the Best of Category in 17 science research categories. The Philippine young scientists were in four:  environmental sciences (EV), environmental management (EM), engineering-materials & bioengineering (EN), and medicine & health sciences (ME).

Directory Listing of Team Philippines 2012 in the Intel ISEF Program.

It may not be the first grand or Best of Category award, but the fourth grand prize in environmental sciences that Hazel Anne Hernandez, Julian Paolo Biyo and Paul Caesar Flores of the Philippine Science High School-West Visayas Campus won is recognition enough for the difficult work they put into 'regenerating coral fragments on bamboo artificial reefs.'   The Consortium for Ocean Leadership also lauded them for this outstanding work with a certificate of honorable mention.

Prior to the Intel ISEF, these young marine scientists won the Outstanding Young Scientists Award, the top prize in the SEAMEO (South East Asian Ministers of Education Organization) 8th Regional Congress held on March 6-9, 2012.

The three had the Banate Bay in the southeastern part of Panay Island as their marine laboratory. But first, they had to go through rigorous SCUBA diving training before they could dive for and recover broken Acrophora and Stylophora coral fragments from the dense coral reef in the Hibotkan Rock Marine Reserve area.  They had to transport these by boat four kilometers away to the Anilao waters where they deployed concrete and bamboo artificial reefs (CARs and BARs).  This is an area where "no coral assemblages are found."  They've actually started building a reef there, hopefully  to become a new fishing ground esp. for local fishermen who helped them deploy the artificial reefs.

 YouTube video showing Hazel, Julian and Paul receiving their award.

Hazel, Julian and Paul had to dive every month from February to December 2011 to check if the coral 'transplants' could survive and grow on the artificial reefs, measuring their growths as well as the water quality obtaining there.  

"Acropora and Stylophora coral fragments can be transplanted on both concrete and bamboo artificial reef," they reported, "[although] Acropora showed low survival and growth."  They're enthusiastic about the use of bamboo as a material for an artificial reef construction because it is abundant and easily obtainable in the area.

Their 'marine laboratory' has been declared a marine protected area, a no-fishing ground by the local government of Anilao town.  In their dive before flying to Intel ISEF, they already noted an increasing diversity of marine life there.

The other members of Team Philippines 2012 may not have come home with grand awards but they too had outstanding research studies to show off at the Intel ISEF. 

Elson with his 8-m sample eco-fabric and his display poster at the ISEF. (Photo from Team Philippines).

Elson Nyl Galang of PSHS-Southern Mindanao campus (Davao City) brought with him eight meters of what he calls 'eco-fabric from fragrant screw pine (Pandanus amaryllifolius) leaf fibers.'   In his study, he was looking for a natural fiber to replace polyester to blend with cotton in producing a Philippine Tropical Fabric (PTF). 

He had the full support of the Philippine Textile Research Institute (PTRI) where he did his project while he was in summer internship there.  His product, a blended cotton-pandan fabric (80-20%), was found "to have the fabric weight ideal for blouses and pants, good breaking strength, exhibits shrinkage, has low pilling resistance, good colorfastness and non-staining ability."

Elson's pandan fibers have now joined four natural fibers that are being used to produce PTFs: Musa textile (abaca), Musa paradisiaca (banana),  Ananas comosus (pina), and silk. 

Ven Gabriel Tan from Marinduque National High School was intrigued by the proliferation of common herbal plants in a mine brownfield, an area that has been abandoned because the soil is heavily polluted by heavy metals, and in this case, copper ions, Cu⁺² . He thought of studying the 'potentials of [these] common herbal plants in sequestering copper in former mine brownfields.'

Ven in front of his project display in Pittsburgh.  (Photo from Team Philippines).

He chose to study four plant species, namely, Amaranthus spinosus (local urai, Eng.pigweed), Desmodium heterophyllum (Desmodium), Ruellia tuberose (meadow weed) and Stachytarpheta jamaicensis (local kandikandilaan), planting them on three soil set-ups--plain garden soil, garden soil amended with high level of copper in solution, and actual soil from the former mine site.  

"All the plant species can hyperaccumulate Cu⁺² within the range of 2 to 100 ppm," Ven reported. "They can be used in phytoremediating these ions in mine fields."  During the experimentation period, he noted that the plants did not wilt nor the leaves turned yellow; indications that they could tolerate the high concentration of Cu⁺² in the soil.

Ven said their local government has taken interest in his research.  He hopes that his study could help local officials craft policy guidelines for environmental management there.

Bryce, Carla and Lanz with their display poster. (Photo from Team Philippines).

 A marine creature, the sea hare ('donsol' in Sarangani) or Dolabella auricularia was the subject of scientific interest to Carla Beatriz Lazara, Lanz Gabriel Jabla and Bryce Abraham Anos from the PSHS-Southern Mindanao campus.  They were particularly intrigued by the purple ink that it secretes to ward off predators.  They thought this secretion "may contain substances with pharmacological applications."

Thus, their 'bioprospecting for active compounds of Dolabella auricularia (sea hare) ink secretion' had them perform tests to characterize this substance.  The genotoxicity assay told them that the ink enhances mitosis in the Allium cepa (onions), which was evident in the proliferation of long roots during the experimentation period.  They found out however that the ink has cytotoxic effect on Artermia salina (brine shrimp).  They were able to confirm the presence of secondary metabolites in the sea hare ink, which include flavonoids, leocoanthocyanins, saponins and tannins.

Carla, Lanz and Bryce wrote that "isolation, identification and characterization of the bioactive compounds ... may be explored to determine components with therapeutic benefits," and that further cytotoxicity studies "may provide better use of the sea hare ink in the development of pharmaceutical products."   

On judging day, our participants wore national costumes. (Photo from Team Philippines).

All except Ven Gabriel will be university freshmen when school opens.  Ven will be in his senior high school year, and with his exposure in the Intel ISEF 2012, he may yet come out with a winning project to bring to the Intel ISEF 2013 in Phoenix, Arizona in May next year.

Videos featuring Team Philippines 2012:

Asia Pacific "Shout Out" featuring Team Philippines showing off the country poster they crafted for the opening ceremony.

The 1,500 participants in the Intel ISEF are given opportunity to meet new friends through a pin exchange as shown in this video.

Ay, ay, malunggay!

Malunggay flowers. (Photo by the author.)

We've tried the marunggay/malunggay ice cream, a culinary venture in the Ilocos (where else could it be?). Some weekends would see us buy from the organic veggie market stalls a dozen malunggay pandesal and malunggay bihon noodles for breakfast pancit.

Our NGO,Timpuyog Zambales, once looked at the feasibility of a malunggay powder project but a kilo of dry product would require considerable tonnage of green inputs (and therefore a big plantation) to make a profitable venture. 

Malunggay powder has been used in the supplemental feeding program for children in famine stricken African countries.  In our Pinoy households, this could also be added to kiddie meals, may be mixed with the cereals, porridge, and the lugaw or congee, especially for those who absolutely hate to see vegetables on their plates. 

These days, we drink a cup of malunggay 'tea' with a dash of lime juice before bedtime. We produce the healthy 'tea' using bunches of green fronds from our backyard trees hanged inside the house for air-drying. 

The marunggay (Moringa oleifera, formally) of childhood memory has grown from being the popular trees in our yard where neighbors and relatives go for the green leaves and the seasonal fruits for the dinengdeng (an Ylocano ratatouille like pinakbet) of lunch or dinner.  A relative's Igorot househelp named Berta came very often for this lowly vegetable, and thinking about it now, our moringa trees provided very rich nourishment for our growing brood of cousins. Those days, backyard vegetables were free for the asking. Today, a bundle of five malunggay fruits would cost Php20! 

From those same trees did our grandmother pick the dark green leaves for the chicken tinola she dutifully cooked for our lactating mother as my four sisters came into the world one after the other in the 1950's, and our youngest in ’60.  Pinoy baby boomers like us did not know it then when we were suckling our natural food; it was the marunggay broth that helped sustain the milk supply from our breastfeeding mothers. 

Studies dating back to the American occupation of the Philippine islands discoursed on the medical and nutritional value of the Moringa oleifera. Today, breastfeeding is being greatly encouraged by various child-care advocates, hence moringa is also getting back into the baby food picture.   

In folk medicine, tradition has it that the roots be chewed and applied to the bite of a snake to prevent the poison from spreading. A decoction of the roots is also considered a cure for scurvy; it is likewise used to calm down delirious patients.  Everyone is familiar with the leaves being chewed and applied to wounds to hasten blood clotting.   Asian-American high school students from California won a prize at the Intel Science and Engineering Fair a few years ago for their study using moringa extracts as blood coagulant.  

Some literature in the 1920's called the malunggay seed oil ben oil, reported to be good for salads and for other culinary uses.  At that time when oil lamps were still used for lighting, the ben oil was considered comparable to the best of Florence oils in the market.  Because it’s tasteless, colorless and odorless, it was considered a good material for use in the process of extracting perfumes.  Ben oil however did not grow to be as popular and commercial as the ylang-ylang oil.

It’s the green movement, the search for alternatives to OPEC oil (a matter of economics actually), that’s resurrecting the ben oil in other usable energy forms.

There’s a reason why we put the moringa flowers in the illustration. For the past several years, our scientist friend has been involved in hush-hush project, which he could not help tell - producing a high end product, an organic Viagra, as he put it, from some compound in the plant that’s most abundant in the flowers and the still limp and thin young fruits. It seems they have already successfully tested the product on experimental mice.

Our friend says the moringa’s ‘viagratic’ element affects both male and female but that could only be felt probably if there is a big intake of malunggay leaves and flowers, although in our hometown we don’t really eat the flowers.  We can gather the flowers at blooming time and convert these into some envigorating flower power potion, a salad with tomatoes and onions. Eventually, we we may yet see malunggay fruits disappear in the market when this organic viagra becomes a menfolk remedy, straight from the tree, for some embarrassing dysfunction. 

Source:  Brown, W.H. (1920).

Because we see it almost everywhere, we think that the malunggay is native to the Philippines. Linguists would tell us though that the name gives away its Sanskrit origin - marungi.  Experts say that, with a few exceptions, plants with Sanskrit origin were introduced from India or Malaysia, or probably from Java and Sumatra during the Sri-Vishaya and Madjapahit periods.  The Philippines belonged to those empires; what was left included floral souvenirs like malunggay, lasona, patola, champaka and lagundi, which were already native Philippine and thriving all over the archipelago when Magellan set foot on Sebu soil.

The Sanskrit veggie name morphed into different forms wherever the plant was grown. Thus, Moringa oleifera Lam. (horse radish tree to the English) is known as arunggai in Pangasinan; balunggai, Cuyo Islands; kalamunggai in Misamis and kalunggai in Camarines; kamalunggai, Mindoro and kamalunggi, Pampanga; malugai in Culion Island; malunggai in Tarlac, Bulacan, Zambales, Bataan, Rizal, Laguna, Manila, Batangas, Tayabas, Mindoro, Capiz, and Zamboanga; marunggai in Ilocos Norte and Sur, Abra; and maronggai in Zambales.

Thus, your name for moringa gives away your promdi-ness! [Promdi, from the, province.] 

References:

Brown, W.H. (1920).  Wild Food Plants of the Philippines. Bulletin No. 21. Bureau of Forestry, Dept. of Agriculture and Natural
     Resources.  Manila: Bureau of Printing.

__________. (1921).  Wild Food Plants of the Philippines. 2(22):104-105 and 3(22):188-189.  Bureau of Forestry, Dept. of 
     Agriculture and Natural Resources.  Manila: Bureay of Printing.  

Census Office of the Philippine Islands. (1921). Census of the Philippine Islands.  Agriculture, Medicinal Plants, Forest Lands
     and Proper Diet.  Manila:  Bureau of Printing.

Merrill, E. D. (1926).  An Enumeration of Flowering Plants. Vol. 4.  Bureau of Science.  Manila: Bureau of Printing.

It's Ylang-ylang season!

We've been making quick trips to our hometown San Narciso in Zambales recently, and we've been picking the yellow ylang-ylang flowers from the low-lying branches of the Floresca tree near the town plaza, putting some in the side pocket of our backpack for the refreshing scent to accompany us during the four-hour bus ride back to Manila, and carrying a bagful of them to deodorize the air around the house in the city.

We can't help being most nostalgic of the ylang-ylang blossoms from a mighty tall tree by the foot of the stairs of the big house of the Valdez family for the junior-senior prom and graduation day garlands during our happy high school days at the Zambales Academy, which the Valdezes owned.  A beautiful young lady lived there, our classmate Aida, granddaughter of the patriarch Felixberto; and that's why we had free access to the flowers, although it wasn’t easy gathering them.

That tree might have already been old during our teens; it would take more than three pairs of hands to spread around and embrace the huge trunk. We thought then that it was the only ylang-ilang tree in the whole town.

The Valdez house is now sadly ravaged by time and the elements, its majesty all gone. Alas, only the memory of the tree remains.

All these came to mind when we chanced upon the ylang-ylang of more than a century ago, in the September 1872 issue of The Appleton’s Journal of Literature, Science and Art, which informs that ‘six or eight years ago [c1866] a new perfume, in the shape of a "handkerchief extract," was introduced [in the United States] from England, bearing the curious name of Ylang-ylang, or, as perhaps more properly spelled, Ihlang-ihlang.’   

At the earliest then, the scent wafted on American air in 1864 a few years ahead of the 1867 Exposition Universelle in Paris where “M. Rimmel exhibited the ihlang-ihlang flower preserved in glycerine ... a veritable flower, produced by a large tree known to botanists as the Unona odoratissima. This tree is a native of Malaisia [sic][Malaya?], or the islands of the Indian Archipelago.  Ihlang-ihlang is a native name, signifying the ‘flower of flowers.’”

Literature attaches another meaning to ilang-ilang - ‘‘wilderness.”  Supposedly from names of Philippine origin, the ‘flower of flowers’ comes from alang-alang or alanguilan, and the second from a Tagalog word, which we are more inclined to accept, since ‘ilang’ is the familiar term for far, unreachable places.  Ilang-ilang happens to be the Indonesian term for ‘loosely hanging,’ which aptly describes the flowers too.

Accounts say that the first information about the tree came from the English botanist John Ray (1628-1705) who gave it the name ‘Arbor Saguisan,’ said to be what it was called in Luçon [Luzon?]. Other botanists gave Ylang-ylang different appellations - Bonga cananga, Canang odorant, Uvaria odorata, Unona odorata, and Unona odoratissima - which finally evolved into the preferred name Cananga odorata.  In his Notes on Cananga Oil, or Ylang-ylang Oil in the March 1881 issue of the American Journal of Pharmacy, Prof. F.A. Fluckiger attributed the superlative odoratissima to Fr. Francis Manuel Blanco, OSA, who described the intense perfume to cause headaches in a closed sleeping apartment. Fr. Blanco wrote the popular book Flora de Manila around 1880.  

Left, illustration from Blanco's Flores de Manila (c1880); Right, from Blume's Flora Javae (1881),

Nobody knows for sure where the plant originated. The contention is that it originated from the Philippines and found habitat ‘in Indonesia, Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia,’ which means it has spread out worldwide.  In 1797, the plant was brought from Sumatra to India, in the botanical garden of Calcutta.  Captain d'Etcherouy of France brought the ylang ylang to Reunion in 1770. At around that time too, the plant reached Madagascar particularly Nosi-be and the Comoros islands. 

Today, there are large plantations in the Mayotte island between Madagascar and Mozambique for the production of ylang-ylang oil, a vital base ingredient in the scent industry. 

The Appleton’s Journal had this to say about the beginning of the ylang-ylang oil industry  –

"The flowers were first distilled by a chemist at Manila, and yielded an ottar [sic][attar?], or essential oil, representing their delightful odor in a state of great concentration. This ottar was exhibited, probably for the first time in Europe, at the Exposition of 1867.

"Ottar of ihlang-ihlang is now largely distilled at Manila and at Singapore. It is a yellow liquid, not quite as heavy as water, and possesses, as before noted, the characteristic fragrance of the flower. It is very costly, being valued even higher than the precious ottar of roses. The wholesale price of oil of ihlang-ihlang is, at present, in the London market, about two pounds per ounce, and in this country fifteen dollars, or at the rate of two hundred and forty dollars per pound."

The chemist could be that sailor stranded in Manila in 1860, one Albert Schwenger, who operated a mobile still. The large consignments to Paris and London by 1864, wrote Fluckiger, were from Manila ‘where German pharmacists occupied themselves with the distillation of the oil.’ By 1900, the Philippines had a monopoly on the ylang-ylang oil production but the First World War put an end to it; Europe, the biggest market, was paralyzed by war. Botica Boie produced and exported it as Manila oil, believed to be the finest of oils produced here.

In 1923, Coco Chanel and her business partner Ernest Beaux, introduced Chanel N°5, which had ylang-ylang oil as the base ingredient. It became very popular, and millions of bottles have been sold since then.  After that, so many other perfumes with an ylang-ylang base were produced. 

Perfumes and colognes with ylang-ylang as of 2009.

There's one that carries the flower in its label, Amarige Ylang Ylang de Mayotte 2006, in the Givenchy collection of 2007, the oil base reported to have come from the best harvest of the Mayotte islands plantations in 2006.

There had been government encouragements to revive the ylang-ylang oil industry.  In fact, the local government of Anao, Tarlac began transforming their town into "Ylang-Ylang Country" in 1989, and their One Town One Product initiative of 2003 was geared to produce the valuable extract sought by the local manufacturers of scented products like perfumes, aromatic soaps, shampoos, lotions, and even candles.

We know that herbalists have also introduced ylang-ylang tea into the market.

Reports say that French fashion house Yves St. Laurent was importing ylang-ylang flowers from the Philippines for more than twenty years, then brought the plant to America, set up plantations, and secured a patent for its perfume formula based on the ylang-ylang oil. 

Our favorite flower children in the neighborhood gasoline station do not know YSL and his ylang-ylang scented perfumes.  Suffice to say that we're happy with the thought that when we buy those sampaguita leis with a bunch of dangling fresh and sweet yellow ylang-ylang flowers they will be able to buy something to put on their table for a late supper with their siblings.

 

References: 

 

Author unknown.  (1872, September 7).  Ylang-ylang.  Appleton’s Journal of Literature, Science and Art. 53(180), 273 Retrieved from Making of America Journal Articles at http://quod.lib.umich.edu.

Chanel Offial Site. History of No. 5. Retrieved from http://uma.chanel.com/fragrances/n05.php 

Fluckiger, F.A.  (1881, March).  Notes on Cananga Oil. Or Ylang-Ylang Oil.  American Journal of Pharmacy.  53(3), 6-8.  Retrieved from http://www.swsbm.com/AJP/AJP_1881_No_3.pdf 

Market Manila. Ilang-ilang / Perfume Tree Flowers.  Retrieved from http://www.marketmanila.com/archives/ilang-ilang-perfume-tree-flowers 

Region III: Tarlac / Ylang Ylang oil of Anao. Retrieved from http://www.otopphilippines.gov.ph/microsite.aspx?rid=3&provid=37&prodid=29 

Sun on Petals of Ylang Ylang. Fragrantica. Retrieved from http://www.fragrantica.com/notes/Ylang-Ylang-24.html and http://www.fragrantica.com/news/Sun-on-Petals-of-Ylang-Ylang-Welcoming-Givenchy-Amarige-Ylang-Ylang-de-Mayotte-466.html 

Tabb. W.K.  (2000, January).  The World Trade Organization? Stop World Takeover. Monthly Review.  Retrieved from http://www.monthlyreview.org/100tabb.htm 

Ylang- Ylang "Flower of Flowers".  Article published in the Aromatherapy Times. (Vol. 1 No 61) - International Federation of Aroma-therapists Professional magazine - www.ifaroma.org. Retrieved from Nicole Perez School of Holistic Aromatherapy at http://www.holisticaroma.co.uk/articles/ylang_ylang.php

Historical pictures from:   

Blume. (1881, Mar). Flora Javae. American Journal of Pharmacy. 53(3). 

Blanco, F.M. OSA. (c1880.). Plate 221, Flora de Manila. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia/wiki/ Cananga_odorata_Blanco1.221.png

In memoriam of the primary school teachers of our town's baby-boom generation ...

The elementary school teachers did not have a uniform before the second world war, they wore something traditional as this 1930 illustration shows.  Our primary grade teachers in the 1950s did not also wear a uniform, but they had their dresses sewn by their favorite among the town's seamstresses with the hemlines well below their knees.

Our father's cousin Pilar, a venerable spinster teacher, had passed away.  She was ninety-two. Even after her retirement long before the end of the past millenium, she continued to teach, this time at the pre-school center of the town's Aglipayan church. She was ma'am to many in our small coastal town, plenty of them counting to be her relative, thus calling her outside the schoolyard, basang (Ilocano for aunt), auntie, or lola Pilar. 

She was among the public school teachers who in the prime of their lives taught us who were born after the second world war, the so-called baby-boomers. She may be among the last of her colleagues who've been waiting for the call to move on to the great beyond.

We stepped into grade school when Ramon Magsaysay, this man all the adults in the neighborhood adoringly called Monching, was running for President of the Philippines.  To us children, he was just a picture in every wall and fence, his campaign jingle ‘Mambo mambo Magsaysay’ to sing along at the top of our lungs as we climbed trees or roamed around the neighborhood.

In 1953, we were saling-pusa (informal pupil) in our aunt Pilar's Grade 1 class because we were not of age yet.  We could have been a regular student if only we could reach our right ear by arching our left hand over our head, which meant, according to folk wisdom, we still lacked the height and therefore the head to tackle school life. 

There was no kindergarten school yet although the Protestants had something similar to it. It was possible though to make arrangements with Grade 1 teachers to accommodate informal pupils in their classes, something voluntary on their part, especially if the child was a relative.  That's exactly how we ended up learning the basic 'Rs (reading, 'riting, 'rithmetic) as an un-official grader under our father's cousin Pilar, in her class at the South Central Elementary School, one barrio away from our own. 

It took sometime for us to adapt to the new teacher, another spinster, when we formally enrolled in the first grade the next year.  Aunt Pilar though would be our Grade 2 teacher.

South Central was of post-war vintage.  It offered only up to Grade IV for some years, and the pupils had to finish their elementary schooling in any of the three other poblacion schools (North, East and West).  Thus, we did not have classes in a concrete building unlike in the three that had Gabaldon schoolhouses built in the 1900s.  Our rooms were wooden structures with floors of packed brown clay. We never polished wooden floors like our peers in the other schools. We swept the floor with brooms of coconut midribs (walis tingting), and watered it after classes in the afternoon to keep the dust down.

In the latter part of the ‘50s, government would build us elevated classrooms. Thus we graduated from the South (San Jose-Patrocinio now) Elementary School in a homeroom with wooden floors, which we swept with tambo brooms and polished with bamboo husks.  We remember that the Parents-Teachers Association (PTA) called for help in the construction.  We pupils were required to bring to school a pail of sand or stone for days before the builders, mainly parents or their representatives, began to take shifts in building the new schoolhouse.  

We were taught in English, and we  started reading with the English 'Pepe and Pilar' readers. We sang the national anthem (“Land of the morning … For us thy sons, to suffer and die.”), and pledged allegiance to the republic (“I love the Philippines; it is the land of my birth ...”) in English every flag ceremony of our South Central days. 

"Spoil the rod, and you spoil the child," was a philosophy that our teachers enforced, and our parents never complained.  

Our teachers checked on our personal hygiene quite regularly.  They would move around with a ruler to give our extended hands a whack if they found our fingers long and dirty.  Then they would peer at both our ears to check for unsightly dark orange earwax. 

They bore particularly on the girls’ hairs for indications of kuto (lice) -- the lis-a or eggs sticking on the stems of hair. They would be admonished to shampoo their hair with lye from burnt rice stalks. We remember that classmates who came to school dirty would be given a good bath right beside the school's water pump. 

The school kids in the lower grades learned from the older ones who among the teachers were most prone to pull ears or pinch legs or whack buttocks with a 1-inch wide, 1-yard long bamboo slat in case (a) you're noisy or quarrelsome, or (b) you did not do your assignment or you did not bring your industrial arts project.  Teachers rarely changed school assignments. They were not moved to other schools unless they got promoted as principals or head teachers.

We 'dreaded' most our industrial arts teacher. There were occasions when we felt lazy to bring the materials for our basket weaving or bamboo furniture making classes. We knew we'd all  be asked to go in front of the blackboard to receive our punishment, a whack on the buttock.  As we tittered, he'd raise the bamboo slat so high above his head, but we knew already that he won't let it land heavily on our behind.  We knew he knew that we padded our behind with notebooks. 

To escape his big whack, three of us cousin-classmates would volunteer to bring the school carabaos to the river for bathing esp. when the black berry (duhat) and cashew (casoy) were in season. We'd have a holiday climbing the trees in the area and feasting on the ripe berries or collecting the seeds of golden cashew fruits. 

It would be several generations before the public elementary school teachers started considering a domestic helper job abroad as an alternative way of keeping a family, or applying for a teaching position in the United States under a special visa arrangement. We do not remember seeing our teachers sell processed meats or commercial goods to sell.  They were accorded utmost respect in the the community.  Members of our generation would probably be the last who enrolled at the Philippine Normal College and other similar institutions because teaching was regarded a "noble profession."

The statement of assets, liabilities and net worth (SALN) of the gobernadorcillos of our Spanish past ...

They're not like the contentious SALN  of Chief Justice Renato Corona, or the same Civil Service form that people in government service, appointed or elected, must file every fiscal year to comply with law. 

The election returns and church records of our Spanish past provide us means to identify the members of a town's principalia or the principales who were elected to various positions in the local government--the gobernadorcillo, and the teniente primero, various ministers (called juezes) who attended to issues pertaining to peace (juez de policia), cultivated lands (juez de sementeras) and livestock/cattle (juez de ganados).

There were the so-called subalternos del pueblo (subalterns/subordinates of the town) comprising lieutenants (tenientes from segundo or second up to nth, depending on population size) and the alguaciles or sheriffs.  The lieutenants were still of the principalia, but the sheriffs were ordinary menfolk who did not sport the title Don.

The indio bravo or sumiso, brave or submissive, of the principalia could only aspire to  become gobernadorcillo (Capitan Municipal later), today's town mayor. He could not be Alcalde Mayor (Gobernador Civil later) of his province because that post was reserved for Spaniards.

To be a principal, one had to have visible wealth (farmlands and tenants, carabaos and horses, a decent house maybe of cana or madera, bamboo or wood, etc.).  Most important, he must be literate; who can leer y escribir - read and write - preferentially en Castellano.

The gobernadorcillo was elected by an electoral college composed of peers drawn by lots if there was large group of principales—six from incumbent cabezas de barangay (heads of barangays) and six from former capitanes or cabezas who had served for at least ten years.  The 13^th elector was the incumbent town head.  This electoral set-up was in accordance with the laws of good government as amended by the superior decree of 05 October 1847.

The town head and the other Dons in the municipal tribunal did not file SALNs.  But the wealth of the gobernadorcillo candidates became transparent when the Alcalde Mayor, who presided over the elections together with the cura parroco/parish priest, submitted the election returns to the Governor-General in Manila for approval of the results or his recommendation as to who should be gobernadorcillo.

Thus, it was the Alcalde Mayor who revealed the wealth and other attributes of the contenders for the town’s top position, as illustrated by these election results in our hometown in Zambales in the 1800s --

In the 07 November 1848 elections for the 1849 term, D. Fruto Apolinario, who was the first town head as teniente absolute in 1846, received eleven votes, the highest, but the Alcalde Mayor D. Jose Sanchez Guerrero recommended the second placer, D. Pascual Espiritu (six votes) to be the next teniente absoluto.  He preferred Espiritu more than the incumbent, D. Martin Antonio.  Teniente absoluto was gobernadorcillo title when the town was still under the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the capital town Iba. 

The number of carabaos (and horses) were listed in the "SALNs" of gobernadorcillo candidates included by the Alcalde Mayor in the election returns with his recommendation for appointment, which he submitted to the Governor General.  [Source of picture:  Givens, James David. (1912).  Scenes taken in the Philippines ...]

 

Guerrero had all the praises for Apolinario—a man of good character, knowledgeable in Spanish, owns arable lands and a house of bamboo and nipa, has 17 carabaos and 6 horses, and has served as teniente absoluto and cabeza de barangay “without blemish”.   Yet, he went for Espiritu, who was as well-off like Apolinario (though they didn't have the same number of livestock), has served as teniente primero and cabeza also “without blemish” but who has better disposition than Apolinario.

The first election of the town’s gobernadorcillo was held on 07 December 1849.  Nominated were D. Fruto Apolinario, D.Gelacio de los Santos and the incumbent teniente absoluto D. Pascual Espiritu.  The popular D. Fruto again garnered the majority vote (10), while D. Gelacio received 8 votes.

This time, Alcalde Mayor D. Jose Sanchez Guerrero rightfully endorsed Apolinario as the best who can discharge the duties of the position.  “Without blemish” was how he described Apolinario’s and De los Santos’s government service as teniente absoluto  and cabeza de barangay, respectively.   He reported that their houses were made of bamboo and cogon.  Apolinario had 7 carabaos and 4 horses, while De los Santos owned 5 carabaos, 5 horses and 3 balitas of arable land.

The cura could also write his own SALNs regarding the fitness of the candidates for public office. 

In the 06 April 1893 elections, for example, Fr. Maximino Martinez wrote the Alcalde Mayor about the qualifications of the three aspirants. 

He had the highest praises, and was obviously biased, for D. Juan Flordeliza:  “[He] is from this town, speaks Spanish quite perfectly, has held positions in the council with probity and wisdom, occupies a high social position and exerts some considerable influence in the town thanks to his long service and personal conduct, is endowed with extraordinary activity, integrity of character and poise that distinguish all his actions, the most ideal for the difficult position of Gobernadorcillo.”

He had reservations with D.Florencio Adamos:  “[He] is a native of Vigan from where he moved to this town some years ago, has modest knowledge of Spanish, has been cabeza de barangay, it is quite agreed that he has a spotless reputation, but he has been talked about being accused for reasons not very decent, he is religious and timid, very gentle and naive.”  

He had no friendly words for D. Cipriano Farrales incumbent Gobernadorcillo:  “[He] can express himself properly in Spanish, is of good character, has sufficient resources, but he is somewhat remiss and negligent in character, because of which, he does not have much influence in town.”

Obviously, the only hidden wealth that the Alcalde Mayor had no knowledge of were the peso or reales savings account of the candidates that were possibly deposited in undisclosed places in their houses, if they had extra money from their harvests or sale of livestock, or gains from businesses for those who ran casas de azucar, anilio, y algodon (sugar, indigo and cotton mills), and the jewelries of their spouses.

There were no impeachment cases for gobernadorcillos we noted in our town’s history.  But incumbents who incurred the displeasure of the cura, for reasons personal or official, were marked for life. 

References:

• Ereccion de los Pueblos – Zambales 1842-1894.

The Filipina image in advertisements 100 years ago (1912)

We found five advertisements in the almanac for 1912 using images of the Filipino woman. 

La Campana had the Filipina in the traditional formal dress, a terno, scattering sweets and biscuits from her bag.  This was a confectionery and pastry maker; it made all kinds of sweets, biscuits and syrups.  They also ran a restaurant (a gran salon or big hall) on Rizal Avenue in Sta Cruz, Manila that offered lunch and refreshments. 

This Filipina was inviting the menfolk to go to La Asamblea at 141 Rosario St in Manila for their headgear (straw, felt and wool hats, etc.; buntal hats, hats from Baliwag, Bulacan and Calasiao, Pangasinan).  This shop of Canuto Fernandez also offered a variety of footwear, various kinds of perfume, fans, pipes made of amber; the ad didn't say whether these were for both men and women. If customers wanted better fit for hats bought there, adjustments were offered free.

The Filipino woman in the upper class of Philippine society rode horses in style too and dressed like her European counterparts.  This ad wanted horse riders, both the señoras y caballeros, to buy their riding boots at El Brillante, located at 110 Carriedo St in Manila.  Calzado medida could have meant "the boot that fits".  

The Cojuangco and Legarda ladies of recent times rode imported horses using modern riding garb when they went racing in national and international games. This picture reminds though of the rich leading ladies of classic Pinoy TV soap operas that are set in large haciendas, usually sugar estates.

 

The woman in long, flowing gown with scepter and tiara, opening a cabinet full of treasures (jewelry, precious stones and articles of value) could have just been an allegorical figure representing the Ildefonso Tambunting and Filomena Concepcion pawnshops.  Tambunting was in Plaza Sta. Cruz, and Concepcion was on Azcarraga (today's Claro M. Recto).  Tambunting is still around.  We haven't seen a Concepcion; it's a Lhuillier that stands in major towns and cities around the archipelago today.

The representations of the real Filipinas were in the background, one in dire financial straits pawning her piece of jewelry to a rich lady.  The ad probably was telling those in need to go to the pawnshops rather than to their richer kin, neighbor or landlady. 

There wasn't a University Belt yet at that time so there were still no students running to pawn some valuables at the above pawnshops after they've spent their allowances from their hard-working parents back home in the provinces.

A nude Filipina?  Probably, the advertiser was inspired by "pearl of the Orient," Rizal's endearing term for his country.

The top line in Spanish which translates to "the shell was opened and produced this oriental pearl" meant that the store La Concha at 82 Escolta was selling muchas bellezas nacarados, plenty of pearly beauties.  

By the way, the local name for the shell enclosing the nude is taklobo, an endangered specie, a large number of them can be seen in the conservation farms of the University of the Philippines Marine Institute.  These are not pearl farms however.  Today's Mikimoto pearls are produced in some farms in Mindanao using oysters.

Source -  

• Calonge, José Sedano. (1912).Almanaque Manila galante para el año 1912. Manila: Imp. Lit. y Encuadernacion de Juan Fajardo. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/adt3550.0001.001

It's the centennial of the1912 corn campaign; Emilio Aguinaldo, Jr. had his own corn plot

One hundred years ago, the Bureau of Education inaugurated a general corn campaign in all schools in the country to complement vegetable growing in school and home gardens and the cultivation of farm crops in what were then called settlement schools.  The full force of about 8,000 teachers and other government agencies implemented this corn promotion program.

One aim of the campaign was to "impress upon the Filipino the fact that corn is a food for human consumption."  The American authorities thought that "it was necessary not only to teach the Filipinos how to grow corn, but also to teach them to eat it. Corn is one of the regular crops of the islands, but owing to ignorance and prejudice, corn products were regarded by the Filipinos as food to be despised by all except the lowest classes." 

It was also necessary to have other food products supplement rice, the Filipino's main staple. Then, and it is now, rice was already being imported. The Americans felt that it was best to popularize corn so that there would be a reduction in rice imports.  They were thinking that a "considerable loss of public funds secured from the import duty on rice" would be compensated by "the retaining in the Philippines of the several million pesos which annually leave the country for food staples."  

The campaign had several components that would be capped by the first large corn exhibition in the Philippines during the 1913 Manila Carnival.  

The biggest component was the corn-growing contest among schoolboys.  

Contest no. 1 had the boys cultivating corn plots in their own homes. Their teachers evaluated their plots regularly. A prize was awarded to the boy who grew the largest quantity of corn on one hundred square meters of land.   

Contest No. 2 was an open competition among the boys who could submit the best five ears from their harvest. For the Manila Carnival corn exhibition, there were 149 five-ears exhibits from various provinces that competed.

All in all, there were 11,661 boys who competed in Contest No. 1, and 18,666 boys who entered Contest No. 2,or a total enrollment of 30,327.  First, second and third prizes were awarded in each participating province.

 He was not among the winners in Cavite, but Emilio Aguinaldo, Jr. also had his own corn plot to tend during the launching year of the corn campaign in their home in Kawit, as shown by this picture from the Philippine Craftsman issue of November 1913.   

While the boys were into corn growing, there were 6,660 girls who were taught corn recipes and they prepared the dishes using only utensils and ingredients found in the ordinary Filipino household.

Corn demonstrations were held in towns and barrios especially during fiestas, garden days (yes, they had Garden Day, Arbor Day then), and even during athletic meets. They had "booths specially constructed for the purpose ... devoted to the display of points pertaining to the growth of corn; good cornstalks with ears; ears of corn; seed testing; preparation of corn meal; and the preparation and serving of corn dishes." 

The worst drought, the worst attack of locusts, and destructive typhoons wrought havoc to some parts of the country during this first year.  "A pronounced drought, the worst for many years, was followed by swarms of locusts.  It was the worst locust year during the American administration. Entire sections of the Philippines were devastated. The locust experts of the Bureau of Agriculture, in cooperation with the people, worked hard but in two or three provinces practically all crops were eaten up. In these provinces the boys enrolled in the corn-growing contests had their corn destroyed. Many plots were replanted two and three times. Two or three very destructive baguios caused extensive damage in certain provinces. Buildings as well as corn plots were destroyed. The corn campaign was conducted during a year when there were more than the usual number of agricultural calamities, but the part the campaign played in reducing the want and suffering usually following the destruction of crops cannot be readily expressed in terms of money value."

The corn campaign was discontinued after five years, in June 1916.  The American authorities felt they have attained their objectives. Corn-growing contests continued as part of the activities of agricultural clubs.

After one hundred years, several varieties of corn find their way from farms to markets, corn has become a part of the Filipino cuisine either as veggie ingredient or stand-alone salted or unsalted, buttered or un-buttered staple, sweet yellow corn stalls have become fixtures in the urban Katipunan Avenue landscape, canned sweet corn is almost like a regular item in the grocery list, and pop corn seems like a constant in everybody's equation of an enjoyable time in the movies.  

Anyway, when Emilio Aguinaldo, Jr.  was tending his corn plot, West Point was not yet in his dreamscape, we suppose.

 

References: 

• Foreman, North H. (1912, Sept).  The Corn Campaign.  The Philippine Craftsman.  Manila: Bureau of Printing.  1(3):210-215.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acw9599.0001.003 

• Foreman, North H. (1913, Nov).  The Results of the 1912 Corn Campaign.  The Philippine Craftsman.  Manila: Bureau of Printing.  2(5):97-309.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acw9599.0002.005 

• Bureau of Education. (1913). The corn campaign. Thirteenth Annual Report of the Director of Education, July 1, 1912, to June 30, 1913. Manila: Bureau of Printing. [35-36]  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acs9512.1912.001

• Bureau of Education. (1915). Agriculture. Fifteenth Annual Report of the Director of Education, July 1, 1914, to December 3,1914. Manila: Bureau of Printing. [85-86]  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/ACS9512.1914.001

• Bureau of Education. (1917). Corn. Seventh Annual Report of the Director of Education, January 1, 1916, to December 31, 1916. Manila: Bureau of Printing.  1(17):39. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acs9512.0001.017 

• Crone, Frank L.(1916, Jan ) Public Instruction, America’s Work in the Philippines.  The Philippine Review (Revista Filipina). Nieva, Gregorio, Ed.  1(1):41. Retrieved from  http://name.umdl.umich.edu/acp0898.0001.001 

• Crow, Carl. (1914).  The America and the Philippines. Garden City, New York: Doubleday, Page & Company. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/afj2335.0001.001 

• Miller, Hugo Herman. (1920). Corn as a food crop. Economic conditions in the Philippines. Boston: Ginn.  Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/anw6422.0001.001 

• Osias, Camilo. (1921). Barrio life and barrio education. Yonkers-on-Hudson, N.Y.: World Book Company. Retrieved from http://name.umdl.umich.edu/AEN7574.0001.001