“Sacada” descendant a pillar in aggie research

By Dr. Sosimo Ma. Pablico

MANY DESCENDANTS of migrants from Northern Luzon have great difficulty in tracing the exact origin of their forefathers and, hence, could not pinpoint any relative there. The simple reason is that they were brought to those places and, therefore, had no opportunity to meet their relatives.

One of those descendants is Dr. Feliciano B. Calora, a pillar in agricultural research and development in the Philippines, who estimates that he is a fourth generation descendant of three Calora brothers who left Sta. Lucia, Ilocos Sur to work as sacadas in Laguna and Negros and never went back.

Proud to have the Ilocano blood running in his veins, Dr. Calora was born in Tranca, Bay, Laguna, where his father worked also as a sacada like his forebears. Despite poverty, he surmounted all odds to finish a degree at the UP College of Agriculture in 1955 and later received the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) award.

The young Calora was a student assistant as he worked for his college degree, specializing in economic entomology and plant pathology (study of plant diseases) and was immediately enlisted as an assistant instructor in the UPCA department of entomology.

He later obtained his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy, both in entomology, from Cornell University through a NEC-ICA fellowship and a Rockefeller Foundation scholarship, respectively.

For eight years, he worked closely with the late Dr. Dioscoro L. Umali to draw up the plans and programs of the World Bank-supported UPCA five-year development program, the first of its kind to an academic institution in the country, that greatly improved the UPCA academic programs, physical facilities, and budgetary needs.

Dr. Calora was also a key participant in the drawing of plans and programs for the UP-Cornell Graduate Education Program implemented in 1964 – 1970. For more than 16 years he taught undergraduate and graduate courses in entomology at the UPCA and served as thesis adviser. He became professor of entomology after 15 years.

He left the UPCA in 1971 to establish and manage the agricultural research station of the Cyanamid Research Foundation (CRF) Inc. in Calamba, Laguna, where he was its corporate president and research director.

His directorship at the CRF required his regular recommendations for courses of action based on monthly/quarterly and yearly research results, essentially for the establishment of a scientific culture. He also helped prepare a package of technology for corn production, which focused on the use of herbicides for the control of aguingay (Roetboella exaltata), in Mindanao and the Visayas, to obtain the highest yield possible. He also developed the marketing strategy for the herbicide pendimethalin for the corporation.

Under his stewardship, the research center had produced high quality research results in crop protection.

Even after retirement, Dr. Calora continues to be active as member of the governing council of the Philippine Council for Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resources Research and Development, member of the board of trustees of the Philippine Agriculture and Resources Research Foundation Inc., and team leader of the External Program and Management Review of the Bureau of Agricultural Research.

In addition to the TOYM, Dr. Calora was presented the Outstanding Alumnus Award from the UPLBCA Alumni Association, Pest Management Award the Pest Control Council of the Philippines, Oblation Award and Most Outstanding Vanguard Award from the UP Vanguard Inc., Achievement Award in Research Management and Honorary Fellow award from the Crop Science Society of the Philippines, among others.

(Readers may reach columnist at spablico@yahoo.com. For past columns, click http://sundaypunch.prepys.com/archives/category/opinion/harvest-time/ For reactions to this column, click “Send MESSAGES, OPINIONS, COMMENTS” on default page.)

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