 I'm Alfredo B. Diaz, a professor at the University of the Philippines, Visayas. A university which I know is close to your heart. I am privileged and happy and blessed to be sharing a conversation with you this morning to celebrate the University of the Philippines and of course your life. Happy birthday, you're now 99 years old. Thank you. Kamusta ka na mam? How are you? I'm okay. I'm strong enough to answer your questions and human enough to be funny. Wow. Your career as a writer, researcher, teacher, administrator is very colorful and vibrant and significant. I'm interested to know how you got into the University of the Philippines. I was offered the principalship of a private school where I was doing my practice teaching which was interrupted during the war. Now the person who was interviewing me and offering me the job eventually became the UP president and the Dean of the College of Law. Dr. Sinko, Vicente Sinko. Before I didn't know all of this happening behind me and one day President Gonzales called me to his office to say how are you and so on and so forth. I was amazed that a president would call a faculty member just for a chat, he said. How do you know what's happening in Asia? Because at the time there were rumblings that there might be an Asian war. So I said, I don't know the politics of it but I think it would be good for a budding historian. Now I am no historian but history is a record of significant events so I would be interested in it. So all of a sudden he said, I'm going to send you to Australia. I was not happy because all of us wanted to come to the states. But what could I do? So I pinched myself underneath and I said be proper. So I said it's up to, well, Mr. President it is really up to the board of which you are the head. But I also know that literature is a history, an imaginative history and it would be good to pioneer in such matters. That's all. That is how I became what I am. So you joined the faculty of the Department of English at the University of the Philippines, am I correct? That was my first job after the war because when the war broke out I was a senior second semester and all of us were asked to go home with the exception of those in nursing and I think dentistry to go home. So all of us who were members of our family took Kalesa to Pakui Station and wow, the crowd was awful. You could see passengers climbing up the windows of the train that was going to take up to Bicol because the railroad station ended up in Bicol. So at somebody you pushed my buttocks I will also climb. And I did what others were doing. I climbed and unfortunately I climbed into four empty seats so I pushed my way to the window and I said, come on here there are three more and they did what they did. We all landed and went down the sailboat. That is how I became a sailor. So how was it like to be a faculty at the English department of the UP in the 1950s and 1960s? How was it like? In 1990, after the war, before the war, I was a senior already. And then when the war came, we were all sent home. We did what most of us thought they could do well which was teach. So I organized classes among the barrio folks. You also became department chair of the English department? Department chair? Yes. It was never my ambition ever to become an administrator. What I wanted was to become a good teacher at the time. Honors were given to the best teachers in the country. Like Metro Bank today. And then, so that was my aim, was to be the best. So when you were doing your MA in Australia in the University of Melbourne and later your PhD in the US University of Chicago, the height of the White Australian policy and the segregation of people of color was also at its peak. Yes, yes. How was it like being a female Filipino scholar during these times? Oh, we were all doing very well. You know, the son of the ambassador, Regala, who is a famous lawyer now, a member of the Angana group. Yes. And he was interviewed during the NECRO for him. So we met. He was a student, very devoted. He was very unsociable. And I told him about that. And yes, yes, we had to be unsociable because the standards were very gross. So you didn't find it difficult being Filipino and female in America in Australia? Yes, yes. That was my distinction to be the best scholar. My distinction was to be a woman, number two, to be a woman who is in graduate school. After your PhD, you returned to the Philippines. Yes. Because I really wanted to be a teacher. And so I was taken in when I arrived fortunately or unfortunately, you know, the president called for me again. Again? Wow. Constant. And he said there is a steamer full of grantees from different American institutions. So do you want to join the crew? And I said, Mr. President, I still have a debt to pay. So I would like to pay that debt. A return service. Yes. So the steamer went. I said goodbye really to most of my who eventually become my colleagues and who went to greater heights. Mr. of UP would mention that you were also Dean of UP's Bagyo. Yes, yes. But I went to Bagyo not because I was going to be dean. It was a part of my ambition to be an administrator. What I wanted was to see my picture in the papers because media was very partial to education at that time. And so I have the Australian government established with other governments then a what is called now the Colombo Plan. Colombo Plan. Yes. Eventually it was renamed the Australian Fellowship. You're one of the first Filipino scholars to be sent to Australia. Government. And the son of the ambassador. But he was already studying. You were also engaged in different ad hoc committees at the university, especially initiating for the, including the development of like, for example, UP Clark and UP San Fernando which later became Pampanga. Because I am what they call Pakiala Mera. Pakiala Mera. I would give unsolicited advice how to know a community and I did not have courses in that. So what were the difficulties or the challenges being part of this ad hoc committee of San Fernando. UP Pampanga, UP Clark. Did you find it difficult? And then, no to me, because you are a pioneer, you could try anything. So it was fun and nobody can say hindi tamayon. Wulang busy. Comparison. I was sent as chairman also of the UP Mindanao group. Emila Veer was not yet president at the time but he was part of the team. So that gave me an opportunity to tour for free. Mindanao. So I went to society. Leading cities now like Sambuanga. You know, Davao. And I got interested in the native culture. That is where my interest was fostered because during the war I decided that it was no longer interesting to so palay to be part of a harvesting group. I learned how to use the side. So there was more than what formal education did for me. I learned as a student an observer what rural life was. So when I came back UP Bagyo was being established. And UP Clarke was our income plus-plus provider because we were paid separately in dollars. So para mukampar. And that is my first exposure to non-Philippines. So from UP Deleman, UP Bagyo, UP Clarke, UP Pampanga. You also did a stint in UP Mindanao. Now my question is how did you end up in UP Visayas? How did I end up in UP Visayas? No wanted to go to Visayas. And I am a pioneer at heart because I am Ilocano May paki alamera. So I used to my friends were farmers, harvesters and so on. So I learned that. I learned how to know how to use a side. I learned how to to grow kamote. All the rural skills I decided that I would master all the rural skills until the time came when I was always the champion. Because you have to put the pala here. And there's a style for you to hold a bat full. You don't cut and then put somewhere. You have to have your fist full because we were also paid by the number of this. So my ambition at that time was to beat them all. I became ambitious that way. You were a master of this rural skills and also a teacher. Well, I think that if I beat them by producing more that meant that I must have learned unconsciously certain skills because you have to fill your with a chair and you put them down and soon I won over such competition. I was the one who always reached six instead of five months. So nobody wanted to go to the Visayas but you volunteered and you went to the Visayas? UP Visayas and eventually became a work chancellor? There was no UP Visayas. But I taught practice teaching in a school near the printing press who eventually became the president and I was teaching in his school. That is how he came to know me because he would ask me always to proofread his books. So I think that he was not pleased that there were a lot of them. So he called me once and he said how do you want to go to graduate school? And I said I think I would like to run a graduate school. That's it. And then more candidates were invited and then president Gonzales called me and said I didn't see your name amongst the invitees but I recommended you because I think majors in in English and other majors always choose to go to the states and we have to know first our neighbors wow I was so disappointed because I really wanted to go to the states and I read about Pascual and I thought I would like to go to the college to the university where Ricardo Pascual he was the most famous Philippine scholar. So let's now talk about your role in UP Visayas. You became our first chancellor and the first female chancellor of the whole UP system. How was it like being chancellor of then very young university UPV? You know I did not take administration but maybe because I lived amongst during the war that I lived amongst farmers rice farmers and it was getting to be boring so I we have a big family and so I told them magpalabas tayo so we had our own drama group and we would go from barrio to barrio and make palabas and it was the only recreation that the farmers had so and then I wrote the place but I don't have I only have memory of that because there were no typewriters you know everything was spread by word of mouth So UP Visayas, we became our first chancellor and then there were some issues regarding the choice of Miyagaw as the site of UP Visayas because there were other places candidates for the many the capitals of the different provinces were competing to be the site of UP Visayas and I knew that the focus would be fisheries so I volunteered to join the group and you could see in the air white flags meaning vote for us ya so I decided you cannot vote unless you know the place so I asked to be a member of the search crew I was the only female being used to farm work I learned the psychology also of the farmers So how was UP able to acquire Miyagaw as the site of UP Visayas oh ambition ya hectares farmers most of the farmers went to Mindanao for a better way of life so there were no hardly any farmers left in Miyagaw because they would go to Mindanao on bamboo rafts and then paddle themselves to Mindanao and then they became prosperous there so everybody wanted to go so I thought I would like to see Mindanao so I went to Mindanao on bamboo craft what were some of your major challenges as chancellor of UP Visayas I cannot say major they were all challenges you know one becoming because that was one of the that if you choose UP a university there that means you would be interested in rural culture and I thought I know rural culture because that was where we lived during the war so I volunteered just to go and see and when I came back I said we could also have a UP Mindanao so to speak in one of the barrios here in one of the barrios in Visayas so the president created a UP Visayas study group and I joined the group I was the only female and there were no dormitories because we were supposed to be pioneers so where the men slept that was also where I slept and provincial governors were always shocked no, there's no problem I said I'm here not seeking for a husband I said I'm here seeking for the approval of a university in Visayas so finally it was Miagaw Miagaw won over the other nominees because barrio captains what for that Have you visited Miagaw recently, ma'am? Pardon? Have you visited Miagaw recently? I always do When was the last time? Day before yesterday What can you say about it now? It's thriving and the faculty members because I told them whether you stay here permanently or not it is a good investment a place so that's what I did there were no savings bank at that time so whenever people needed money I lent them money but at no interest at all so so the farmers are always coming to me and I would lend them and they are very honest but they remember but they remember yeah so you mentioned that it was never your intention to be administrator you just wanted to teach I'm just interested to know who influenced you to become a teacher I wanted to be a teacher but to become an administrator no how did maybe I am an accidental administrator you can call it that way because nobody wanted to lead and SIFDEC at that time was a very popular research institution and SIFDEC was against having a UP in the Visayas because their intention was to establish a school but eventually you became our first chancellor of UP Visayas congratulations and for the record you're the first female chancellor of the UP system but I never considered this honor they were work but it was fun because you dealt with rural folk and I knew how to deal with rural folk because during the war my father bought land planted it to rise my my own farm and he planted to bake because he came from the Kagayan province so when the abaca plants they would grow tall because he knew how to and farmers were buying to bake leaves from us and he taught them how to dry and so forth and one of the income producing farmers work that gave them more income because he taught them also how to make tobacco and sold them by the sacks and in our case we learned how to produce seedlings of tobacco in size in the tobacco leaf and it is not all mid ribs it was really all leaf because of my father's practical knowledge and so we were producing tobacco in an area everybody was always smoking if you want to learn how to invent and so on go for it because you make adjustments you know you go to places that do not produce tobacco there and then my father who was from Kagayan knew how to produce tobacco if he would be there you don't see him because the tobacco plants were higher than him so he taught us how to dry how to slice how to make cigarettes and that is how I transferred that skill wherever I went you got interested in community development and I met that group because they heard about CIFDEC which is not Ilongobon CIFDEC was getting to be popular really as an expert in not really production but they went into it eventually so the leader of that group volunteered to establish what CIFDEC so they were the first ones to oppose establishment they thought that they were going to have competition but they did researchers so where would they get the researchers Sanam UP poaching and then most of our researchers would live and join CIFDEC because the pay was good the UP at that time the government at that time said that ah we have to know about our own land and at that time the advisors so he said we don't know about the land mean how to produce rice because there were scholars and pa egg was that advisor to our course said we have now institutions for the production of pa lay because then eery got interested so I think see and no one my day rest in peace thought ah if we have expertise on land we must have expertise on water ya to complete the development of the country because we are exporting the fish and we are producing the rice wala ng ulam yung fish oh wala ng ulam yung pa lay that is how it it started it was not a a studied no of well the archipelago all that they know we now know about waters but we don't know about those who drink and sail the waters yun ang logic very simple you know what happened shift deck may be was afraid that shift deck was getting its funding from the government yun yupi min dana was getting so little we used to yupi min dana as the handle ah but no one amongst there were fishers no so there was a a powerful community group in in dilliman who thought well we have institutions that are experts rice production et cetera so let's now develop experts you know one is for the land how to make the land produce and they had already developed experts sent experts to the states and said let us now develop experts and water and that is where at the time I was the dean of the yupibagyo I went around but at the time I was dean of yupibagyo so my own theory then you go not to change but to bring the seeds of change so there was a very favorite parang native practice which was to parang before you choose the land you have all kinds of dances yugano so that stuck in my head many were going to the states on the smith bond scholarship and I thought it's not only the states that can teach us no why don't we go to another direction and and we had an ambassador who wanted to do also something different and so his son who was taking up law in Australia thought well before we make decisions let us see Australia so we were like tourists we were brought to this place which was famous for like this and that is how we got to know Australia so I said why not offer scholarships for Australia and that is but it was not in my intention to go to Australia I still wanted to go to the University of Chicago because that was where our philosophers first they went and he became a very popular faculty member in every section of his classes were overflowing there were not enough chairs because there were so many students who wanted to be taught by you know by Pasqual so he he did something funny there were no chairs anymore now let us do it I will provide the chairs he said you just answer the questions so he did it his own way like you are here already yes sir there are no chairs are there no sir you know but you can command yourself to do what you should do yes sir so now you are standing are you okay? yes sir okay now think of yourself as chairs so they all laughed you know we invited him to UP Visayas our dilemma is interested in developing itself of course that is to be expected that he became one of the he became a charge role after three years of development and he became a faculty member so so that is how I succeeded in building a bridge to castle the hall so I said ah you are interested in fisheries but shift deck is here so you cannot compete with shift deck but I noticed that those at shift deck enroll in graduate school yeah and they go to UP Visayas so I said ah my word at the time was we will one day I said to shift deck because shift deck's ambition was to develop itself into a graduate school I said ah that will come about I said how we already bring up from minta now the experts so I said we will develop the experts yun an sabi ko we are not going to compete because the more experts we have the better but do that overlook already with in rich yeah so their scientists were enrolled in our graduate school until they became convinced ah there's no use having two graduate schools and they are not a teaching institution they are a research institution so you undertake your research I said and our faculty will enroll whatever programs so our faculty were there so eventually we became friends that competitors yeah until now UP's flagship program is fisheries their staff of SIFDEC study at UP and faculty of UP also do community service there so they are at peace with each other eventually I thought it was a good strategy pala so we expanded our graduate programs and pretty soon we established also a marine laboratory and the son of Cabos the vice president at the time was a marine scientist so he offered to teach in SIFDEC you know but at the time SIFDEC was getting to be less of SIFDEC yeah because he got married to his girlfriend who was also a marine scientist so we offered the basement of UPV and asked them to develop that into a marine lab sub subterrestrial now oh oh many researchers expressed their desire to work with them it's really a unintended research group oh because Bany enrolled to work with them but meanwhile their work was getting to be world famous so we were getting offers already to teach and expand the Bany lab those are pioneers they are still there asked about their wife much to the disappointment of Pippin Cabos and Pippin Cabos at the time was not my friend so it was never my ambition to be an administrator oh oh but if it was asked of me so I said this is a challenge I want to be the best administrator and doh doh nemen so was there also but doh research interests are not in marine or fisheries oh I was really very fortunate like Shingo was a law professor he was simply a writer of books and he learned that I was teaching in English so he said the first batch and asked me to to read without pay I love it because it was providing me experience and I was getting to know him so when I returned he was already he was dead when I returned the president of the UP so he remembered me when I paid by courtesy call a very simple life but my what is your philosophy my philosophy is just to do well when I am assigned to do something and then I started maybe not just in my mind that for you if you really want to be an administrator the first thing that you should be good at is working with people and what people are here working with at the time there was a lot of student activism in Niba and so I joined them in relation to the community activists so I was because I was chance what did at the time so I joined them because I was invited also to to be a member of their women's group para mutually and that is where I planted the seed of sympathy with activism whenever there was trouble in the town at the president of the alumni association at first he was very angry because the activists were from the UP first of all were in any rallies even though congress would you have dance go di ba wala kasaba ako sa rally student activism so pag datil ko doon pero sa gate hindi ko yung binabasa para hindi ako magagali so everybody was at work so ang sabi ko at sila daw ay pidepresyo kong lalupo ba anong sabi niya pidepresyo so you are not doing this because you want to pili mo talaga sila kayo buhati doon yung inyong mga sila sabi ko and arrange yourself facing the obligation wala wala na so mga pa yan may magbabayan ng fees wala ang tatagap ng fees yung baka na doon nakita doon na in front of the obligation na sila wala naman ako sinabi after words na sila hindi naman ako so it is their own language and you also have to respect you don't punish them kasi we are talking about freedom of thought freedom of expression ayun ang kanilang alam doon arawin yung primer my first night there takbusakin yung yung security guard yung nagbuboxig sa canto ng little theater kayo lahabang sinuro ay bakit hindi naman ako marulong magboxig pero I went so there were really nalawa I don't even know them eventually they became my friends ang ginawa ko I put my hand on the color back color and jerk them apart you know why don't sabi ko why don't you use your hands why do you use your hands UP2A sabi ko nakita buka ako takbuhan na lahat I will not forget and then I call them to immediately the next day anong natutudan dito kagami no it was a way to say do you still hate him no if you mean it so I am now dismissing you but before you go you have to show that you are sincere ay nang kabaya na sila on di tapus na buksin tinawag ako ng gonsales na ako member na group nakasakay sa bapor and then I was there nag-good bye ako sa kadela fulfilling and ambition dila at ambition ko I was so disappointed that I was the chosen chosen so okay lahat to the buddhaks so and and I learned their culture I learned how to get their cooperation you know kasi naman during the war we became farmers my family because my father was a forestry and he knew how to deal with the rural folks yeah that's where I learned I did not take a degree in rural development but I would always help my father type reports and he would always accompany just to maybe to be sure that I am protected yeah so my father was one of my educators ah I knew how to plant tobacco whenever he would you know the tobacco and you have to remove the worms because nobody would talk about tobacco itself not sliced you know every day you would not see him because the tobaccos were higher but removing all the worms because we were to be sure that the tobacco leaf was was perfect you learned everything but don't abuse umang pakainamin ang mga susu I would start from from river namin namin ang mga susu you are a specialist and then you cut the tip you know wash them well and then when the water is boiling na may ano na yan whatever you want put the susu and the susu would open harvest the susu ang sarap na ulam parang ano nyan ay ulam ng hari wala ka na mga ibang baka kain tobaco hindi naman hindi makain I would join I would join the susu would plant the rice so that when they went harvesting I could join them you know you start from the top because he mounted rice you know so you don't climb you go upstream start from the top bore a hole and your partner will drop only so many palay so I learned how to be the one to drop the palay I became an expert at saka ano sabi ko pagpasaya tayo dito sa bundok so I would ride place I would ride place because we have a big family you know ako director at then magakasaba ko because I would join planting and so forth I had friends that is why expert ako sa community develop it in that sense sir into the arts also sciences agriculture community development collecting place collecting pieces it was a very interesting life nabobor ako doo primero that that they made me department of English benjo sabi ko how boring naman ito so I said but every Friday you tell me what new thing yun agar report sila nag-invento daril sila innovator oh and then I was sent to Iloilo oh then I was sent to Bagyo sa Bagyo naban ang community development ma, anong gagawin namin dito ma, look are you why don't you are imaginative are you you are ganito and you can do many things yun kaya bagyo mag-bagyo arts festival that is where the arts festival started mag-a-price readers piti-irated dali merod ako kutyan but still you baga-irated bahalaka dalo mag-ano ma, mag-ano ma 100 diba oh but it was not my intention to have my good talaga ito-do-day because imagine you are in creativity we don't even know you all masters started and that only that only it paid that only visual pag-datil ko sa Bagyo wow, ma-inspire ka talaga mag-sulat no, so the create ako talaga do in offer ko first I invented yung U.P. Writer's work adabing adabing tool na mag-writer kasi nobody was paying attention to the U.P. Writer's yun no so, nag-pakadak wala, pag-berokang lecture so, in essence we were on our own nobody was he said to the state yung mga gado so, what I did I went to did the original did but student leader dun si do-do so po bunt ako kay deal tatay ang tawang tatay pag-pakadaka tayo yun daw scholarship wala, baka i-gusta do nanginagawa natin but it should be scholarly so at include that exclude so so ang guna ko yatag inano-no the sources of knowledge para big dealado there's ang guna ko mga speakers yung mga deeds yun, si did they meant so e gali-dabas yun and then afterwards ay ako kay lagad ito ba in journal para by eternalize si yung yung mga ganyan kailangan mabasa dila yun so, I edited yung lectures dila first nag-invento ako ng lecture series para yung mga nag-a-arel, nag-baby yun nag-science malalama nila, the science of knowledge yung gado so, datututu sila about something it's not within their field ay nag-gustuhan naman nila na sila speakers so, they wrote very very good articles and I thought, I'm going to have this published but then I was sent to Baguio pero daladala ko dahil para inspire I brought up experts to give a lecture nga sila dila as conception ay yung mga on-population that eventually sabi ko wong nalabang yung single lecturer I will have it as a a dialogue amongst experts nila yung record dabin yun then we would send this back to them yun nang isang secret and yung araw ay hindi ka baka opromot ko hindi ka imprint niba so, I did ko saka dila and we came first at the original note si Fel Santabaria nila it fell who became then also chair of the department ay di recobind ko siya dabagin din doot but being assigned to a new place is a great opportunity because that is where what you wanted to happen happen because you already did so you exercised your authority for good for the good nil yung ay yung kaya pagkaib ay takbuhan they run from Ilu Ilu to Biancao ay yun my price is about yun you ask the government ang mga ilong ko mga pabigay ko bingin ka saka dya dabag at saka ikalawa eventually yung mga nagiging officials ay alam na yun na ated no so, convinced that oh, mga mga ano kailangan yun yun yun ko ba yung talidong sabi ko ay ano ba what was I popular at that time mom hingin ang hingin kayo lang contribution ay di institution building sabi ko mga kaya takalan yun yun yun ang babagawa ko I have that change but that is how we started the UPV foundation yung mga student at money ang hibidimigay nila sa foundation and it is now run and led by alam na ay learn from the past apply to the present in the most original way and enjoy what you are doing kasi ako ay pabang kasali ako yun oh it is a group bagi inspect ako the first time di ba order sa yun yun military and then lahakad ka yun gina gawarin di di yun 30 yun sabi ko dago ako na yun tanong ko pa saan what you tell just be one of them if you expect them to lie down you must know how to lie down gusto gusto dila yun if you expect them to do to stand at attention regardless of the climate do what they do kasi they will never dismiss unless they are being dismissed so means first order para sa akit umu-ula na umu-ula na nakatinding pa naman yung cadets bakawawa naman iwanan ng pamasala sila so I stayed with them until the last time na basang basa sila ay ako naman basang basa ay di ba nakakakayay yung 2 yun 2 yun ko tapos basang basa yung to me everything was I learned I learned that you have to know how to get along with students so over the whole gilawa huwi ga sila sa protest sa mayor huwi ga na rin ako na belibid silang natin because they were rallying during an international event i did it very well in a hotel on live ako noon I was a consultant of bread pagdating ko sa bahay andabi palang telephone calls from the mayor yung ay sabi ko mayor on live ako eh ay ano kong on live kahit baka ikaw si Dan Rolla oh po ay po punta po ako diyan but you know you cannot separate the deal because I was active at myself you know ang gagawin ko kasi isa na para baka pag ipon ang baga graduates of SATs and SATs pag-contribute nga yung taong ito sa foundation ng pera nakasiglakid o kanilang income correct wow 2-1-2 ako na we were working together kasi you never held anything against me kasi leso dito ni baka oh thank you Dan Rolla Doctor Rolla Chancellor Rolla Mam Rolla emeritus professor Janisha Ay Rolla thank you you are brave you are brilliant you are the best and God bless you