UP Los Baños On Your 101st Loyalty Day Celebration – How About Another Show Of Love Of Country?!

University of the Philippines' College of Agriculture, UPCA, now University of the Philippines Los Baños, UPLB, is celebrating its 101st "Loyalty Day" on Thursday, 10 October 2019, with the theme "UP Los Baños: Patuloy Na Tumutugon Sa Hamon Ng Bayan" (UP Los Baños: Continuing To Respond To National Call, my translation). The pertinent news item, "Loyalty Day: History and Essence Revisited" (legacy.uplb.edu.ph) says it was 10 October 1918 when 300 students and 27 faculty members of UPCA voluntarily enlisted in the Philippines National Guard to train and fight in Europe, World War I, along with the USA. Note: Americans founded UPCA 10 years earlier.

And President Quezon sent this telegram message to UPCA Dean Charles Fuller Baker:

Congratulate you and your college upon this splendid showing of devotion to country.

"Devotion to country" – today, as an UPCA graduate, 1965, I wonder aloud why UPLB as a whole or its officials and/or alumni have been publicly non-vocal especially starting last month, August, for 2 reasons:

One, Lack of justice: UPLB alumni are silent on The Rice Crisis enveloping the country – are not the falling palay prices grave injustice to the Filipino rice farmers and their families?!

Two, Lack of business mindset: I have yet to learn of UPLB professors teaching farmers via digital means, publications, and/or trainings on entrepreneurship. If this University has not taught, those farmers have not learned. Since Filipino farmers are not Asean-competitive, any import hurts them. The whole UP System proudly claims to be the National University but has failed our farmers nationally!

Right in front of the old UPCA Library building stands a replica of the UP Oblation – Is not the Oblation saying, with whole body naked and arms outstretched: "I give my all!"?

UP Los Baños alumni, it is not too late to wake up from your stupor of 100 years since UPCA was founded by an American botanist in 1909. What have you been doing to Serve the People?!

Your slogan is in Tagalog, which you call Filipino. You will note that I prefer to write in the language and speak in the tongue of a colonizer, the United States of America. No problem! Foreign language or not, I continue responding to the national challenge – helping the new Secretary of Agriculture promote intellectually "The Eight Paradigms" that are embodied in his "The New Thinking for Agriculture." Voluntarily. On both subjects, I have produced a witty & weighted ebook titled Paradigms Lost, Paradigms Regained, 266 pages – anyone can email me for a freeecopy, frankahilario@gmail.com. Note: After 17 September 2019, I charge US$17/P900/copy – a non-farmer I, a writer, have to buy rice too!

So, what can UP Los Baños alumni do? First, have a crash course on The Eight Paradigms of Manong Willie – maybe hold a national workshop? Meanwhile, do read my free ebook! Challenge to IQ? No, Challenge to Knowledge.

So, 100 plus years later, Loyalty Day or not, this alumnus is expecting from UPCA/UPLB alumni another splendid showing of love of country!@517