The UP Forum July – September 2017: Pride of Place

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VOLUME 18 NUMBER 3

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2017

Pride of Place

The Trees that Line UP Memories | 2

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or an old campus such as UP Los Baños, established in 1909, an iconic tree could simply be any one of those trees that have survived the years since.

Even at its busy academic center, it is not lacking in trees that have been there since any one could remember: the “Fertility Tree” standing like a mother among its brood of acacias at the Freedom Park; or the royal palm trees that still tower over the street from the Carabao Park to Palma Bridge; or the pili trees after which the tree-lined avenue was named; or even perhaps the dao tree before the Student Union building.

Likewise, UP Visayas, having a pre-war building which used to be a city hall until it was converted for use by the university, could choose among those that have survived the transition.

From Historical Landmark to Cultural Hub | 4

M

ain Building. That's what it's called. A name that's both nondescript and imposing. It doesn't say much about the structure. It's not named after a person, an office, or unit. Yet being called “Main Building" carries that air of supreme importance.

But what's in a name, really?

One look at the neo-classical, Art Deco-influenced structure is enough to inspire awe. It stands out among the buildings inside UP Visayas' (UPV) Iloilo City campus. Two large human sculptures representing law and order act as intimidating guards by its arched entrance. At the back, there's a balcony that will make you think of that famous

Pusô and UP Cebu | 6

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he short video makes its metaphor clear: Education is like pusô, an iconic Cebuano street food consisting of rice boiled in packets of woven coconut leaves. In the video, the values of hard work, perseverance, strength, faith and experience helps a young man earn his degree from UP Cebu, while his mother provides him support and pusô.

Titled “Puso 2 - University of the Philippines Cebu” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFgLFt8Ol2Q& feature=youtu.be), the video is itself a symbol of the spirit of UP Cebu—steeped in the culture of the region, full of UP Cebu’s heart and sense of community, and showing a mastery of both technology and art.

The video won the Most Creative Corporate Institution Video Award – Gold Prize during the 5th QS-Maple Professional Leaders in Education Conference and Exhibit in Doha, Qatar in May

2 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 Left: The dita tree emerges from demolished structures. Currently 18 meters tall, with roots at 20 meters, it has a projected maximum height of 40 meters with roots at 40 meters. Photo from Jun Madrid, UPMPRO. Cover Photo: UP Open University's Oblation with its famous swirling flag by Grace Javier Alfonso, taken during UPOU's commencement exercises.

Photo by Misael Bacani.

THE TREES THAT LINE UP MEMORIES... continued from page 1

Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc UP Baguio is perhaps defined by what defines the city in general, the Benguet pine.

For other, perhaps newer, campuses, the choice could be more aspirational; that is, a tree to represent their future.

We could ask the campus chancellors to name the iconic trees of their campus, given these options. But the choice is not really as simple.

UP campuses are known tree havens. The systemwide master development plan has special provisions for trees and which trees. Going by the term, iconic trees could be as numerous as the different experiences or associations of constituents with trees on campus. And that entails a survey of all UP constituents who have ever lived.

We ended up asking for that tree which simply stood out in individual memory.

A tree of inspiration “At the top of my head, it is the ubiquitous tambis fruit trees that I would like to honor in our campus with distinction,” writes Chancellor Liza Corro of UP Cebu.

There are two planted on both sides of the UP Cebu administration building. One is right outside the chancellor's front window.

“These trees had been immortalized already in a lot of paintings and photographs,” she says. “Likewise, a poem had been written about the tambis trees and their fruits by a member of Tinta, a UP Cebu organization which is into writing poems and poem readings.

This poem was read in one of UP Cebu's celebrations of the Buwan ng Wika, which the administrative staff enjoyed and was really able to relate to.”

According to Corro, “When in season, the tambis fruits are scattered in front of the building, and the ground is colored with red fruits splattered on the grounds. Janitors patiently sweep the ground to clean up these fruits, which otherwise would be a feast for the ants and the birds.”

“Currently, on the right side of the Admin building is the billboard with the tarp bearing UP Cebu’s tagline: ‘Nurtured to Create, Inspired to Innovate and Destined to Serve.’ It had to be moved a little bit to ensure that the tambis trees are not covered.”

Corro realizes that the tambis trees and their fruits reflect the tagline. “Maintenance people nurture these trees, in the same manner they nurture UP Cebu’s staff who enjoy the juicy fruits when they are in season, some of whom would dare climb up the trees to gather the red juicy, scratch-free fruits.”

Established in 1918, UP Cebu stands alongside UPLB as one of UP's oldest campuses. “UP Cebu’s tambis trees had long been witnesses to the unwavering service and protest rallies of UP Cebu constituents happening in the Oblation park,” Corro, the campus's first chancellor, says.

A tree for preservation Chancellor Carmencita Padilla of UP Manila, UP's birthplace, chose a tree unknown to many UP

Manila constituents although it has been there from the beginning.

The tree had not been in plain sight. “The hundred-year-old dita tree stood between two old buildings: the Science Centrum and the Sports and Wellness Center, both now demolished, behind the two-storey 100-year-old National Institutes of Health (NIH) building,” she says.

“It became the center of attraction when we started planning for the new NIH building.” At an estimated P1 billion, the new NIH building is one of UP's biggest infrastructure projects. “The tree stood in the middle of the 4,000-square meter lot assigned to the building. The first thought was to cut it because we were informed that it would be costly to preserve the tree in the background of a building around it. But to our surprise, it was declared a Heritage Tree one year before we started working on the design,” she explains.

“Other thoughts entered our mind. Maybe it was a sick tree and needed to be cut. UP Los Baños Forestry retired professor Jose Sargento, a silviculturist, was consulted and he told us that it was a healthy tree and was good for another four decades with proper care and attention.’”

According to studies, the roots and branches need at least 20 meters around it to breathe. For the tree to survive the construction, technical and scientific expertise had to be provided to the design contractor.

“The thought of the life and death of a tree became a discussion point with the architects,” Padilla adds. “After several meetings, we included in our terms of reference for bidders for this NIH building the item that the dita tree was part of the design package and that the contractor would be fined if the tree dies. The approved design has the dita tree fronting the lobby of the 18-story building, expected to be completed by the end of 2019.”

Padilla hopes the tree will be an icon for urban ecology, “where nature and humanity are harmonized.”

Trees for the senses “My favorite trees before I became chancellor was a kapok tree in one corner of the AS Parking lot, and a row of fire trees on the street next to it,” UP Diliman Chancellor Michael Tan says.

“As the summer set in around April, the kapok tree would bloom, its pods releasing cotton-like balls that look almost like snow when they fall to the ground.

When the fire trees bloomed, it was a sight to behold as well, the street turning crimson. Together, the kapok and fire trees signaled, in the past, the end of the school year. In the new academic calendar, it remains a marker of the end of the second semester.”

He adds that there was “Just one drawback with the kapok: I suspect I share with others an allergy to the kapok, so it is indeed a sight to behold...and to sneeze at.”

Tan, whose previous columns on a national daily

The two tambis trees at the UP Cebu administration building. Photo by Bong Arboleda.

The tambis fruits. Photo by By Billie bb (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

UP Mindanao's Oblation Plaza is surrounded by royal palms, with to-og trees planted to replace them in the future. Photo from Rene Estremera.

show his interest in trees, took the time to check if another tree he loved still existed: “I actually was able to confirm the other tree that I loved. It's kalingag or cinnamon, scientific name Cinnamomum mercadoi. It's on the hill near the pond in front of AS 101. If you rub the leaves hard, or scratch the bark you'll catch a faint whiff of cinnamon.

“I thought it would have been iconic because it has been there for years, and AS being such a hub for all students, it must have seen many generations of UP students, and all the activities in AS, from frat rumbles to rallies to the Oblation Run and to everyday lives of UP students,” he says.

The trees of becoming For UP Mindanao's Rene Estremera, the relatively young campus's icons are in the process of becoming. “Being located at the foothills of Mt. Talomo and Mt. Apo mountain range, the campus is blessed with the heritage of an upland forest environment populated with boulders and trees, making the selection of a particular tree elusive,” he says.

According to Assistant Professors Cyrose Millado and Aileen Delima, both of the Department of Biological Sciences and Environmental Studies, continued on page 3

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 3

The Stories of the Old Trees of UPD Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc

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A towering kapok tree beside the AS Parking Lot. Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

The kalingag tree by the Rizal park at AS. Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

The fire trees lane of UP Diliman.

Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

rees are silent, and many, like hermits, are dying lonely and unseen. But their silence is deceptive, for they have stories to tell.

Much of UP is trees. And trees remain UP's most widespread physical legacy to Diliman, a vast denuded estate overlooking Marikina valley.

Acacias, the traditional choice for public spaces since they were brought in during the early days of Spanish rule, were the first trees planted after the transfer of UP to Diliman in the late 1940s. The hard adobe grounds had to be blasted to allow them to take root. Since then, they have spoken eloquently of UP Diliman's fast and robust growth. Now larger-than-life, acacias hold sway at the academic center, providing shade where there was once only grassland.

But they are also like UP and the country's colonial past; dominant and lingering, roots long and winding, beautiful and scary at the same time; and as an exotic species, forever imposed, a stranger to the land.

But theirs was not the beginning story.

A few had come before them, and continue to live. A sampaloc and two mango trees at the site of the Arboretum came without design, survived the aridness of the landscape, and the Japanese-American War. There is no account of their histories, except that they, like acacias, are exotic. But together with the native agoho in front of Quezon Hall, which an old hand in the transfer of UP to Diliman recalled being planted before Christmas 1949, they have seen more of campus life than all the acacias surviving to this day.

They are forgotten trees. Despite being at the campus portal, the agoho has had no alumnus taking selfies beside it as it stands beside a creek, quietly enduring the thin topsoil, the constructions, many fires, the barricading of Diliman's iconic building. The tallest tree in the area, it is hidden by bulkier trees, broken, and wasting away.

At the Arboretum, the stories of War and growth of an urban forest are replaced by the story of encroaching urban blight. The roots of one mango tree are now covered by growing mounds of garbage. It nearly died from a treasure hunt digging. The other tree broke in the middle from a typhoon and has become a dump for old bottles. The mighty roots of the sampaloc are laid bare by eroding forces of water, wind, wheels, and feet.

The acacias have contemporaries within and outside the Oval. Many now tell the story of holding on for dear life.

The camachile, for example, another exotic species, insists on a foothold at several sites on campus. Most would be familiar with the four ones lining Velasquez Street. One had been cut close to the base, but from the large gnarly stump, a new crown has sprouted. Two had fallen from typhoons but from the fallen trunk, several more trunks arose. Same is true for the camachiles at the parking lot of the Alumni Center, and behind the Gymnasium and DMST complexes.

The native ones, like the bitaog, are proving to be hardier. Most visible to freshman applicants would be the dark imposing silhouette up Kalaw street. Its fan-like breadth tells a story. It is one of being cut at the top early in life and being forced to grow laterally, well over to the other side of

THE TREES THAT LINE UP MEMORIES... continued from page 2 the 22-year-old UP Mindanao “may not yet have heritage trees but we have heritage boulders. Yes, huge boulders that have provided solace to students in moments of solitude or fellowship.”

Estremera mentions the rubia trees that line the one-kilometer Maguindanao Road leading to the College of Science and Mathematics, and a row of star-apple trees and a giant rambutan tree located by the main campus entrance, which “have provided fruits for picking or for very cheap prices” for students since the campus pioneer days.

“In the early years of campus development, when

the street, where the Registrar's stands.

The bitaog on the eastern side of the campus does not enjoy the same space to spread its branches. It is pruned regularly to stay clear of the facade of Malcolm Hall, the mirror building of Benitez Hall, the two pre-war buildings on campus. In old pictures, the bitaog is a distinct growth by the driveway, growing alongside the acacia saplings at the Oval. It sheltered the first nurses from UP until the college had to move to UP Manila. The lawyers from UP would surely remember it, as it has gazed over the entrance since all the living of them could remember.

At Gonzalez Hall, three towering dungon trees in a row, facing the Sunken Garden, remain steadfast sentinels, guarding over the knowledge seekers on the floors and, once, when the Beach House was in business, food-hunters at their feet.

Right at a corner of the Sunken Garden, boughs wistfully bending over toward the grass, the grand calumpit tree has been witness to countless pageants and parades of the past and the youthful revelry of games and UP Fairs of the present.

But not all the old native trees of UP Diliman have been as lucky. One, which lorded over residences behind the Protestant church, succumbed to a typhoon last year and fell on a day-care center. The other one, in front of Vinzons Hall, once hulking and mighty on the hill, only recently died of rot after its trunk was slowly stripped of its bark by folks who believed in its alleged abortifacient powers. Fortunately, a younger one is surviving, standing guard over the marker of a campus legend, botanist Leonard Co. Their name is dita. Endemic in the Philippines, they are more commonly known in the world as either the devil tree or the scholar tree, names which are stories by themselves.

But what could be sadder than the story of the diliman?

It left no trace or proof of existence in the area. But it must have dominated the primordial forests of the area. It is said to grow on adobe, which the area is known to have a bedrock of, thriving on forest moisture, most likely beside the creeks. It is said to disappear in summer and to return with the rains. One summer, most likely when the last of the forest was felled, it said goodbye for good. UP Diliman is thus named after an orphan.

And as stories go, a virtual library of new ones is being told by the 100 exemplars rising in the Washington Sycip Garden of Native Trees behind the Carillon, a donation of the Zuellig Group, and by the threatened native species being planted in natural groupings by the Institute of Biology and the Energy Development Corp. at a new arboretum inside the National Science Complex.

But the diliman, the one that the ancients and perhaps even Katipuneros must have passed through in their times, now lives with us only in name.

-------------------The author wishes to thank Emiliano Sotalbo and Noel Pomada of the UP Diliman Campus Maintenance Office Grounds Services and Arboretum Division; and Director Perry Ong and Herbarium Technician Ramon Bandong of the UP Diliman Institute of Biology, for their invaluable input to this article. Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

the University Avenue and Oblation Plaza were laid out, royal palms were brought in and planted in a circle around the Plaza. These palms have stood for almost twenty years. However, it is feared that they may expire soon, not being endemic to the Philippines and subject to disease.”

In contrast, the sago palm is indigenous. In 2006, UP Mindanao kicked off the UP Centennial celebration by planting this choice bio-resource.

It is still being planted by researchers who are committed to continuing the sago research project, one of the first in UP Mindanao to be recognized nationally.

“In February 2013, Dean Reynaldo Abad pio-

See page 7 for photos.

neered the planting of Philippine rosewood or to-og seedlings along the University Avenue, the University Infirmary, the Kalimudan Student Center, the Administration Building complex, and the College of Science and Mathematics grounds,” Estremera reports. “The rosewood trees are expected to replace the role of the royal palms in endowing prestige to the University Avenue and Oblation Plaza.”

“The tree is an indigenous species abundant in the eastern half of Mindanao and is expected to be a very tall tree once they are fully grown,” Estremera says.

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

4 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017

It had only been occupied by the city government for around five years when Japanese troops occupied Iloilo during World War II. The Iloilo City Hall was turned into a garrison and the area around it, a concentration camp. It was abandoned upon the liberation of Panay Island in March 1945. And, as previously stated, the end of 1945 saw the city resolution for the establishment of a UP branch in Iloilo.

FROM HISTORICAL LANDMARK TO CULTURAL HUB... continued from page 1

Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo scene in Romeo and Juliet. Inside are high ceilings and walls decorated by reliefs, big solid wooden beams, chandeliers, and iron grill doors with the letters “IMB” in the middle. Look up at the beams in the atria and notice that their ends are actually sculpted dragon heads.

Story of the name, history of the building It's called Main Building for a simple reason: it was where UPV was born, where UP established its presence in Iloilo. It was the first building when UPV didn't even exist. UP still wasn't a university system of constituent universities and the Iloilo campus then was considered a branch of the University. It was a resolution in December 1945 by Mayor Fernando Lopez and the City Council that paved the way for that Iloilo branch, which was later endorsed in Congress by legislator Oscar Ledesma.

It was known as the UP Iloilo College and it formally opened its doors on July 1, 1947.

Fast forward to 36 years later when UPV was created. It would focus on fisheries and ocean sciences and Miagao, Iloilo was identified as the location of its main campus. The city campus remained and the Main Building housed the College of Arts and Sciences.

As far as UPV history goes, even the name on the building's facade has evolved. It went from “UP Iloilo College” to “UP College Iloilo” to “UP in the Visayas” to “UP Visayas,” which is what it still says. Only the text below those names never changed: “University of the Philippines.” Prof.

Martin Genodepa, Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Culture and the Arts, told the UP Forum, that they couldn't find a clear or near enough photo of the building prior to 1947 that could tell them if there was something written else on the facade before “UP Iloilo College.”

Why would that be of interest?

Because the building was constructed not because of or for UP. It was meant

to be the Iloilo Municipal Hall.

Conceptualized by Iloilo Municipal President Rosauro Jocson in 1908, coincidentally the year UP was created by law, nothing concrete came out of the idea until December 1928 when Municipal Vice President Pablo Nava presented a plan to the Municipal Council. Two months later, philanthropist Juliana Melliza donated 10.8 hectares for the project.

Architect Juan Arellano, who also drafted the city's urban plan, was the main consultant, with Architect Alfred Eugenio as local consultant. Sculptures in the building were by Italian

Francesco Riccardo Monti with Iloilo craftsmen Juan Siendo, and Pedro and Cirilo Sabiano. Construction began in 1933 and by 1934, it was touted as the largest building in the Visayas and Mindanao. It was inaugurated in December 1936 with much celebration as Iloilo had just been elevated from a municipality to a city.

So from the original Iloilo Municipal Hall it was intended to be, it became the Iloilo City Hall at the time of its launch. Genodepa surmised that the “IMB” on the iron grill doors found throughout the building's interior stood for “Iloilo Municipal Building.”

Clockwise from top left: The beams with sculpted dragon heads at one of the atria, the library, and Prof. Martin Genodepa describing the plans for adaptive reuse.

Photos by Misael Bacani.

Bringing it back, making it better While it's a standout, the Main Building, like some septuagenarians, is showing signs of age. Structural changes had been made to accommodate the use of its rooms. Some original features were removed, covered, or added to. It also has a “hodge-podge” of tenants, Genodepa said—library, archives, galleries, clinics, offices, etc.

But things are about to change for the building that was declared a National Historical Landmark by the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP) in 2009.

Plans are underway to restore the structure back to its original look and form. It was UPV's proposal for adaptive reuse that convinced the NHCP to approve and undertake the Main Building's restoration.

For now, UPV calls it a future culture and heritage center, Genodepa said. One side will be devoted to art and the other to ethnography. This is in keeping with UPV's thrust of preserving and promoting local and regional culture and heritage, he explained.

From the current tenants, only the Committee for Culture and the Arts and the Center for West Visayan Studies and its affiliated units will remain.

There will be areas for performances and changing exhibits, permanent museums, a cafe, art storage, preservation and restoration facilities, and a black and white photography and printmaking studio.

And even bigger plans are in store, not just for the Main Building but the campus itself, which was developed in relation to the Main Building.

UPV is revisiting its land use plan and pushing for compliance. It means ensuring that the Main Building is the focal point of the campus—that it is the first thing to be seen upon entry, together with the Oblation, just like the other UP campuses. That, in turn, entails not only establishing the main entry point of the campus but transferring the Oblation as well.

The next few years will see the changing landscape of UPV's Iloilo City campus—one that puts heritage, tradition, and culture at the forefront.

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 5

For the Love of Cinema Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

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ou'll recognize it from Giuseppe Tornatore's film, Cinema Paradiso. It's the UP Visayas (UPV) Cinematheque in the Iloilo City campus.

It currently houses the 77-seater Cinema Exmundo, and a film museum which are open to the public.

“It's not big like UP Diliman's Film Center but also not as small as its Videotheque. It's our own little intimate film theater,” said Prof.

Martin Genodepa, Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Culture and the Arts and former Cinematheque faculty-in-charge (FIC). It has that old movie house feel, emphasized by refurbished seats salvaged from Allegro Theater, one of the city's “vintage” cinemas.

inoscope, and Han Solo in Carbonite. Right at the entrance of the cinema is a huge old film projector from the Allegro Theater.

While Oliver Exmundo is not an alumnus of UP, he has been supportive of his parents' initiative. He is recognized by UPV as a major donor and is responsible for the museum's permanent collection.

Genodepa revealed that he regularly adds memorabilia to be displayed. The younger Exmundo was a senior animator at Weta Digital and worked on visual effects for movies such as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, Avatar, Maleficent, The Adventures of Tintin, X-Men: The Last Stand, and Ant-Man, among others.

Flash back: The origins Funded by UP alumni, the Cinematheque was launched in 2008 as a UP Centennial project and inaugurated in December 2009. It later closed for repairs to the leaking roof and reopened when the work was done.

Cinema Exmundo is named after alumni donors Solomon Exmundo and Nilda Lopez-Exmundo, who, along with their son Oliver, furnished the Cinematheque's interior. Genodepa said the Exmundos are film lovers and wanted to share that love with the UPV community.

Prof. Alfredo Diaz, the present FIC, added that Cinema Paradiso is the donors' favorite movie, which not only explains the building's design but also the sharing of their passion for cinema.

But the Exmundos are not the only alumni responsible for the existence of the Cinematheque. Former Antique Governor Salvacion Zaldivar-Perez is also instrumental in the sourcing of funds for the P3million building.

Now showing: a gathering place Diaz told the UP Forum that Cinema Exmundo not only screens classic and independent feature films and documentaries, but is also a venue for lectures. It naturally beckons film enthusiasts in and out of UPV to come together, enjoy movies, and listen to film scholars and practitioners.

The engagement of the UPV community has improved, he said. “I'm happy that students have become very active in acquiring rights to movies that they want to be shown here. And if they're screening it for free, we don't charge them.” He explained that in the beginning, deciding on the films to be featured fell on the management's shoulders.

The Cinematheque is also rented by alumni to hold private screenings and events. “It's often nostalgia. They would watch movies that were popular during their high school or college days,” Genodepa said. Even Diaz's high school batch has scheduled a screening of Bagets to celebrate its silver anniversary this year.

Next attraction: The museum The Cinematheque film museum was inaugurated in 2013 and currently exhibits items like an original helmet from Ben Hur, a first issue Mickey Mouse figure, face casts of celebrities famous for their roles as movie monsters, a newspaper used in Titanic, a zoetrope, a prax-

From the top: The 77-seater Cinema Exmundo, Prof. Martin Genodepa talking about the pieces in the film museum, Prof. Alfredo Diaz, and the UPV Cinematheque facade. Photos by Misael Bacani.

Coming soon: Film workshops When it was inaugurated at the end of 2009, future plans for the Cinematheque included the conduct of courses in digital filmmaking, film theory and history, and workshops for those who want to embark on filmmaking.

These plans have not been abandoned, UPV is simply ensuring that the conditions are right before moving on to the next stage of the Cinematheque's development. For now, Genodepa said the building's second level still needs work. This is to ensure an appropriate space for film-related workshops.

While the timeline for the offering of more advanced courses has yet to be determined, it certainly remains part of the Cinematheque's future.

The UPV Cinematheque is almost eight years old.

Like a child of the same age, it has a lot of growing up to do before it reaches maturity. But with the support of the whole UPV community—the administration, faculty, staff, students, and alumni—things bode well for its future.

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

6 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017

PUSO AND UP CEBU... continued from page 1

Celeste Ann L. Castillo 2015. The win “puts UP Cebu on the map of academic institutions that lead in creative and persuasive visual communication,” says Prof. Gregg Lloren, the video’s creative director and assistant professor at the UP Cebu Arts and Humanities cluster (now the College of Communication, Art, and Design). Then UP Cebu Dean and now Chancellor Liza Corro was executive producer.

The school that lived UP Cebu is no stranger to change or to struggle. In fact, in a PowerPoint presentation based on an article on UP Cebu’s history, author and UP Cebu history professor Dr. Madrileña de la Cerna includes a photo of Cebu College taken around the late ‘40s with the caption “The School that Refused to Die.” When it comes to perseverance, resilience and sheer tenacity, UP Cebu knows what’s up.

The Junior College of Liberal Arts in Cebu City was established on May 3, 1918, with classes at Warwick Barracks in front of Leon Kilat Street in Ermita District, near where Carbon market is now. The fledgling college soon faced challenges such as the lack of a permanent home, the effects of a global economic crisis, and opposition in Manila against the further expansion and continued existence of the college. But the will of the Cebuano people and the UP Cebu community prevailed, and the Junior College of Liberal Arts in Cebu City was granted a 13-hectare site in Lahug plus yearly funds by the Cebu Provincial Board.

In 1927, Prof. Teofilo Reyes of the UP College of Engineering finalized plans for the Lahug campus and oversaw the completion of a two-story building, which was inaugurated by UP President Rafael Palma in 1929.

In 1936, the Junior College became a permanent branch of UP through Act No. 4244, enabling it to expand its role in the province by offering more courses leading to degrees in Commerce, Education, General Preparatory Law and Preparatory Medicine.

When war broke out, the College was forced to close on December 13, 1941.

Its main building was used as an internment camp for American and British civilians and later as a stockade for condemned prisoners by Japanese forces.

In 1945, the campus was returned to UP, and classes were held at the buildings the Americans had built. The main building and athletic field, which were

damaged during the war, were repaired through funds from the War Damage Commission.

A few years later, in 1950, the College was closed again when UP students protesting the actions of powerful Cebuano politicians and their armed goons during the presidential elections angered a Cebuano Senate President. As Dr. De la Cerna wrote: “Only the students of UP Cebu dared to lampoon these politicians in the editorial cartoons of An old photo of Cebu College, UP, taken from Dr. de la Cerna's presentation. their campus paper, The Junior Collegian, getting the ire of the youngest constituent unit has emin the Queen City of the South, the powerful political lords of Cebu.” braced the modern, the artistic and campus wears both its history and After UP alumni campaigned for it, the high-tech, as befits its role as one the culture of the Central Visayas the College was reopened in 1963. The of the country’s centers of excellence region proudly on its sleeve—most next decades saw turmoil within the in design and information technolclearly evident in the campus’ iconic College, followed by changes in 1986ogy. For example, the Department of landmark, the Administration Build1987 that placed UP Cebu under the UP Trade and Industry inaugurated the ing, in front of which the Oblation in the Visayas. In 1990-1991, the entire first Fabrication Laboratory (FabLab) stands. The Administration Building collegial organization was restructured, in Cebu last year under the UP Cebu’s was declared a historical landmark with academic programs clustered into College of Communication, Art and on December 2, 2010 by the National five disciplines, namely Management, Design. The Fablab is a service facilHistorical Commission. The buildHumanities, Natural Sciences and Mathity established for UP Cebu’s Fine ing is also featured prominently on ematics, Social Sciences, and the High Arts program. It aims to give arts UP Cebu’s logo, symbolizing both School. In 2010, the UP Cebu College and design students, professionals, UP Cebu’s significance as the oldest was granted autonomy by the BOR. entrepreneurs and the public access campus outside Luzon and its resilient Then in 2011, UP Cebu grew again as to advance prototyping, printing and character, said Lloren. construction began for its new campus related equipment, as well as training As if reflecting UP Cebu’s spirit of in a five-hectare lot of Cebu City's South and workshop facilities. resilience and reinvention, the campus Road Properties, which is now home Through the Cebu Business Incubahas evolved through the years. Other to the UP Professional Schools, offertor in IT (CeBuinIT), UP Cebu and buildings were constructed during ing degree programs such as Master the DOST aim to create an environthe ‘70s and ‘80s, and infrastructure of Business Administration, Master of ment that would help startup tech development escalated further since Science in Computer Science, Master enterprises become sustainable and the first decade of the 21st century. of Education and Master of Science in commercially successful. UP Cebu is The campus today is a green, treeEnvironmental Studies. Finally, on the also one of the implementing agenlined haven featuring buildings with 27th of October 2016, the UP Cebu was cies for the DOST's PHIL LiDAR 2 modern architectural designs such as elevated as the 8th constituent university program, which aims to produce highthe Arts and Science Building, and with the installation of the former Dean resolution maps and data to be used modern facilities such as the UP Cebu to Chancellor, Atty. Liza D. Corro. for ongoing government development Library, which served as the media Not bad for a tiny junior college programs. The UP Cebu SRP campus center during the Visayas leg of 2016 that started out with 28 students and is a model of modernity and environPresidential Debate; the Performing two faculty members. mental awareness, featuring a circular Art Hall on top of the Library, which The school of reinvention e-Library with 53 computer units and served as the venue of the historic green building design. And as proof of UP Cebu has gone through war and presidential debate of 2016; the Open UP Cebu’s strength in creative design upheavals, political and administrative Field where sporting events and the and IT, the Shu-Te University of opposition, uncertainty and tension, annual UP Cebu Cookout are held, Taiwan will begin offering a Master and has risen above it all. It has masand which now includes a Jogger's of Arts in Applied Arts and Design tered the art of rebirth and reinvenPath; benches and gazebos that serve (MAAAD) program for interested tion, changing its name eleven times as student tambayans; sculptures and graduates or professionals in arts and throughout its almost 100-year histoart installations scattered everywhere; design through UP Cebu this year. ry—from the Junior College of Liberal and the site often featured in photoAs for the spirit of UP Cebu, Lloren Arts in 1918, to Cebu College in UP graphs of UP Cebu, the UP Cebu sigsays: “The campus is very much in 1947, to the UP Graduate School in nage and seal in front of the Oblation attached to its Cebuano heritage.

Cebu in 1963, to the UP Visayas Cebu and Administration Building.

Thus, we are proud to use the pusô to College in 1987, to the UP Cebu Colembody our ideals of resilience, hard The school that looks forward lege in 2010, and finally to UP Cebu. work, nurturing spirit, and sharing.

As the UP constituent unit born With its history at its heart, UP’s Our motto: Nurtured to Create, Inspired to Innovate, Destined to Serve.

The first line represents our design thrust. The second represents IT. The third speaks of our mandate to serve the region and the country.”

UP Cebu has thrived despite the odds with the support of the UP community and the Cebuano people. And like the young man in Lloren’s video, UP Cebu stands at a height, looking outward and forward to the future.

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

Left: The UP Cebu Library. Right: Campus grounds. Photos from Bong Arboleda.

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 7

The old bitaog along Kalaw Street. Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

A well-preserved old mango tree at the Arboretum.

Photo by Misael Bacani.

The Stories of the Old Trees of UPD

...continued from page 3

The calumpit tree with its boughs shading a corner of the Sunken Garden. Photo by Misael Bacani.

The strongest of four surviving camachile trees along Velasquez Street. Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

Diliman ferns obtained from a forest at the border of Laguna and Quezon provinces are propagated in the nursery. Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

The agoho tree said to be the oldest tree on main campus. Photo by Jo. Lontoc.

A dungon tree at the side of the old Beach House.

Photo by Misael Bacani.

8 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION

Q.

PRIDE OF PLACE What is or was your favorite place to hang out in UP (whether your own campus or elsewhere) and why?

Prof. Maureen Anne Araneta College of Architecture UP Diliman

Prof. Crina Escabarte-Tañongon College of Communication, Art and Design UP Cebu

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M

he park-like ambience of UP Diliman, as a veritable oasis in a busy metropolis—with its trees, distinctive buildings, green open spaces and numerous artwork—is a blessing that we cherish. However, it is also an ever-present reminder that something so precious is constantly under threat of despoliation. What we hope as the institutional permanence of the University partly stands on how well we can preserve the park-like qualities of the campus.

I am not being noncommittal when I say I have no single favorite place in UP Diliman. It is the totality of the campus environs which I find most meaningful. With this, all the more do I feel that we have the inherent responsibility to preserve its essential character while responding to the dynamic milieu that it serves for the rest of Quezon City. This is evidently a formidable task that only proper planning and dogged commitment can hope to fulfill. We must seek the help of our experts (which luckily the University has many of), we must engage the community (which is comprised of generations of faculty, staff and service personnel) and we must adhere to a proper campus plan which incorporates art and cultural resources, ecological diversity, proper land use, thorough maintenance and social well-being.

The meaningfulness of the campus environs that I speak of is best experienced by walking. I suggest starting the walk in the quiet circuit of the UPCA Complex, PAUW and the OUR-OA, onward along Velasquez Street to merge with the hidden pedestrian paths through the National Science Complex (with a momentary breather spent at the NSC Amphitheater), upwards along Regidor Street to walk past the Pagasa Observatory, CHE and Benitez Hall, and finally beneath the trees of the Academic Oval to end the walk at the Oblation Plaza in Quezon Hall. A long trek indeed, but it is well worth taking the time and foot power to experience first-hand the ambience that is unequivocally UP Diliman.

y favorite hangout while an undergrad student in UP Diliman was in our org’s tambayan, the UP Journalism Club (UPJC) in the College of Mass Communication. The tambayan served as a refuge for a naive freshman like me who was transitioning to a UP culture.

Coming from the province, my adjustment was as hard as my effort to speak the Tagalog way. Adding up to my language anxiety were my doubts over my intellectual capacity when compared to those of my classmates in GE classes from Pisay (Philippine Science High Schools) which for me was “above sea level.”

Like a migrant to a new place seeking a better life, I needed to cope with the demands of UP life to stay longer and finish on time. Surviving would have been more difficult without a support group in the form of an organization whose members shared the same goals and interests. I felt that my adjustment became smoother when I met and converged with people with whom I shared my joy and fears.

In the UPJC’s tambayan, we would vent our frustrations over the flood of red ink in our Journ 101 papers under Prof. Rachel Khan. We would run to and relieve ourselves in the tambayan after our tiptoeing and overwhelming silence in the class of Dean Luis Teodoro.

The tambayan was the venue for our cutesy discourse on issues about women after attending the Women’s Studies Center class of Dr. Albina Fernandez. It was also in our tambayan where we expressed our collective kilig over our long-haired Film 100 professor, Dr. Roland Tolentino.

Subsumed under the UP culture was the unique “subculture” we constructed and reconstructed through our constant interactions with one another. This org culture would be modified when a new generation of members came in to construct their own culture out of their unique experience and identity as a batch. This formation of a unique subculture among journalism majors took place because UP recognized the need of its students to congregate and be in contact with one another.

Through our undergraduate years, our constant congregations and exchanges of ideas grounded in our tambayan were very meaningful to us, so much so that we feel nostalgic when reminded by this vivid image of the past.

For our visitors, I will show them one testament of Cebu’s vibrant creative culture: UP Cebu’s Jose Joya Little Art Gallery and Fablab.

The Jose Joya Little Art Gallery in UP Cebu is accessible through a leisurely walk through the College of Communication, Art, and Design (CCAD) office and classrooms. It was named after National Artist Jose Joya who helped the institution of a Fine Arts program in UP Cebu. Every day, I see beauty in all forms on the college walls: canvases bursting with colors, images textured in pain, human follies captured in mixed media. Unveiled in August 2016, the gallery had long been the venue of Fine Arts students and professors for their artworks where conversations from the artistic process to audience reception and to a more serious one about art’s

place and role in our culture is a common affair. A conversation like this is a rarity in the larger public sphere where K-Pop craze and DIY eyebrow trimming are common staples. Such a phenomenon can be explained by our lack of public art spaces, so that the youth, no matter how remote and far their place is to the center or even if they are not in museums and the academe, can hang out with and access their friends’ narratives of our culture through different forms of artistic expression.

As the UP Cebu gallery is part of the school’s environment, students, teachers and employees have lived with it, and created and shared the meaning of its content.

This place has undoubtedly created a dynamic art culture in UP Cebu since the founding of its program in 1975.

A few steps from the gallery is the UP Cebu Fablab (fabrication laboratory) which has also done its part in strengthening the creative culture not only in the school but also in Cebu’s creative industries. This is an urgent response to the need of creative people for a space to incubate their ideas and to mingle and learn with the like-minded.

UP Cebu Fablab is an incubator-like, technology-based laboratory which is open to design students, entrepreneurs, and innovators in the Cebu community who want to transform their ideas into concrete forms through advanced prototyping using 3D printers, laser cutters, printers and cutters, and milling machines among others.

Cebu, named as the country’s creative capital by the British Council, needs to sustain and keep the creative tradition going by supporting the conditions necessary for its stability. Through the fablab, designers are able to exercise their creative prowess, which ultimately will give them a sense of purpose and achieve their potential.

In a highly technological world in which human skills and labor have slowly been taken over by machines, we need to think of what will be left of us humans when technology becomes dominant in our lives. Creativity keeps the human soul whole. I believe that we must cultivate, and institutionalize creativity as it is the very source of our humanity.

UP, being a dynamic institution upholding the culture of service, must respond proactively to external forces, not only those in relation to economic, social, cultural challenges, but also to environmental ones. A number of universities abroad have long started building low carbon emission structures, redesigning the old ones to minimize their carbon impact and energy use, making more green spaces, trying out urban gardening, revising their academic curricula to integrate sustainability in teaching and actively involving themselves in sustainable development campaigns. While we have long known that climate change is real and that we are one of the countries identified as most vulnerable to it, we must remain calm but not keep on doing things in the same “business as usual” way. In building projects for example, solar-paneled roofs, two-way water filtration systems, rain catchment tanks and cisterns, more window openings and other eco-efficiency indicators do not appear in our blueprints. It seems that this urgent concern has not been recognized as a collective one, thus relegating it to environment science programs to do the worrying for us. As a government institution, we have not yet created a caring culture for the very life support system that sustains us: our planet.

The relevance of a culture to the community that created it lies in its responsiveness to the challenges of time. Culture is not static. It undergoes transformation as it responds to the need of the times. As the call for ‘change of mindset’ on resource consumption and production is most pressing, UP has to respond by developing sustainable infrastructure and greening not only its spaces but also its policies and academic curricula.

It would be a beautiful experience then to walk through the gallery of artworks and see prototypes of creative ideas in the incubation lab knowing that the infrastructure holding them is one that is eco-efficient.

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 9

THE UP FORUM ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION PRIDE OF PLACE On your campus, what place would you recommend for your visitors to see or to experience, and why?

Luz Emano Administrative Assistant Office of the College Secretary College of Arts and Sciences UP Manila

M

y favorite hangout place is the Department of Behavioral Sciences. Its bright green walls radiate positive energy and provide a pleasant and welcoming ambience.

The smell of freshly brewed coffee usually fills the room and awakens the senses. There is also a simple but fun activity corner that helps us loosen up a bit, like the Smile Bowl which asks what made you smile today. There is also Momo, the unicorn stuffed toy that comforts us with its soft and warm embrace. The differences in the personalities of individual faculty members and staff members who inhabit the place enliven everyone, but respect for each individual's political, religious or even gender orientation or status in life is a revered norm.

For our visitors, I would recommend visiting and taking a photo of the College of Arts and Sciences Oblation Garden, a small but well maintained garden where the CAS oblation stands tall in the middle.

I would like to see healthier food choices in the student canteen, especially fresh salads and fresh fruits, fruit juices and fruit shakes. Health-conscious individuals or those with health problems either bring their own packed lunch or snack because most of the time, the food served at the canteen is not among the healthiest. Healthier meals on campus would obviously benefit the CAS community.

A regular serving of healthier lunches such as healthier sandwiches, vegetables, and fish would also be great.

I would also like to see a student and faculty lounge.

In CAS, it's normal to see students sleeping in the hallways. The Rizal Hall lobby and hallways are usually occupied by students sitting on the floor studying, doing their group work or project, or just hanging around with their friends. We know that the lobby and hallways are not conducive places to study or take a short nap in, but students are left with no option but to hang out in these places. An air-conditioned student lounge with comfortable furniture would help our students and faculty gather, relax, and study in-between classes.

A computer center and shop for school supplies would also be a welcome addition. Currently, we have one photocopying station in CAS. But it is just limited to copying and printing. Since it caters to the whole CAS, the queue is almost always so long that students or faculty have to go outside the campus, cross Taft Avenue or PGH and look for a copy station. I hope CAS will have a computer center that offers computer rental services, as well as printing, copying, binding, while also selling school supplies such as the "UP blue book," bond paper, pens, notebooks, to name a few so we don't have to go outside the campus to buy these needed school supplies.

Wellness activities for CAS faculty and staff will surely make a lot of difference in our everyday routine. I hope the CAS administration together with the Department of Physical Education will offer free and regular sessions of aerobics, zumba, or yoga classes exclusively for CAS faculty and staff during official hours. A sportfest would also be great.

What kind of place, facility or service would you like to see (or see more of) in your campus?

John Nico De Leon Computer Programmer Office of the College Secretary College of Arts and Sciences UP Manila

Juan Paolo A. Aquino University Extension Associate Media Liaison, Events & Visitors Program Office of Public Relations UP Los Baños

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T

eing one of the fortunate members of UP Family, I really consider UP my second home. Aside from having my favorite spot— my workstation—I also love hanging out in the UP Diliman campus, and to walk and jog around the academic oval, which always gives me the opportunity to reduce stress, meet new friends, appreciate the natural beauty of UP, its wonderful academic structures, its amazing century-old trees, and most especially the open spaces that allow me to have the clearest view of the sky. Every time I am in UP Diliman, I have the chance to be with all the people who, like me, love a place bursting with activity and new discoveries in a place of beauty.

In UP Manila, there are many places I can recommend for visitors to see or experience.

In the College of Arts and Sciences, the best place to visit is the UP Manila Theater, which is the best venue for orientations, discussions, and seminars, with its comfortable chairs, well-lit stage and good sound and ventilation system.

In my entire stay in UP as an employee and student, I have always hoped that someday this century-old health and science center will be one of the campuses that are globally competitive, with cutting-edge technology and service rendered in a very modernized /digitized way such as efficient online transactions with its clients (students in particular). This technological advance will certainly be convenient for both the staff and students.

I would also like to recommend a more-advanced information system at the lobby where students can digitally access class schedules, inquire about certain procedures, or simply ask for information aided by a system-generated data bank.

It would also be best if offices assigned to records keeping, such as the Office of the College Secretary, would have an archiving machine to digitally store student records. This will provide easier access to everyone.

he DL Umali Freedom Park, or simply Freedom Park, is my favorite place in UPLB. It is a vast green field in the heart of the campus that serves as an open recreational field for UPLB constituents, residents of nearby communities, and visitors. Many people say that it is UPLB’s version of the Sunken Garden in UP Diliman, although Freedom Park is narrower and longer.

When I was still a student, after a long day of classes and extracurricular activities, my classmates and I would lie down on the park’s clean grass during night time to rest and relax. The open field of the Freedom Park is a perfect venue for stargazing.

At day time, the park is an ideal place for sports and outdoor activities like football, ultimate, jogging, and zumba dancing. Families and friends also hold picnics at the park. The benches that have been installed around the park in recent years also serve as ideal spots for chatting with friends or reading a book.

Freedom Park, aside from its leisure value, also symbolizes two important events in a UPLB student’s life. It is because the park is the venue of the annual “February Fair” and the UPLB Commencement Exercises.

As the UPLB’s visitor program coordinator for three years now, I have seen how visiting students, and others have been fascinated with the Museum of Natural History (MNH). This 41-year old museum has a diverse collection of preserved animals, plants, and microorganisms. Its creative, colorful, and interactive exhibits also showcase our bio-diverse environment.

I encourage future UPLB visitors, regardless of their age, to also experience the educational science tour at the MNH. From the UPLB campus proper, they would have to drive to what we call the Upper Campus. It can be reached a few meters after the welcome arch of the College of Forestry and Natural Resources. The Museum is within the vicinity of Mount Makiling Forest Reserve, a magnificent ecotourism destination in UPLB. In fact, after the visitors have toured the Museum, they can roam nearby and enjoy the fresh cool air of the area while walking underneath the century-old trees around.

Everyone is excited with the opening of the one-stop shop facility of UPLB that is being built. This is the most requested service by the majority of our visitors. Most of the visitors so value their visit to UPLB, they want to bring home something like a souvenir or a product of UPLB. Personally, I also would like to see a place where UPLB visitors can be welcomed and given a bird’s-eyeview tour of UPLB showing the remarkable places in and the University as an academic community. One of the highlights of the museum would be a light and sound museum showing the events leading up to the Los Baños Raid and the Los Baños Raid itself. Not many people know that UPLB was the site of the historical liberation of an internment camp set up in this very campus in World War II. It would be an opportunity to tell visitors about this little-known event in WW II, about our people’s heroism and courage, and about what has been said as “one of the most daring military rescues of all time.”

10 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017

Saving Pieces of UP History Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

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ld, dark, and musty.

These characteristics come to mind when we think of archives. And the impression we have of the UP Diliman University Archives is no different. Who would even want to go there when going online would be much more convenient?

But tucked away in boxes, filed in folders and envelopes, are treasures that line rows upon rows of shelves at the top levels of Gonzalez Hall, the UPD Main Library. The Archives do not only contain printed matter, but memorabilia as well. There are things you won't ever find online and for serious researchers, history buffs, or the just plain curious, archival materials are like manna from heaven.

She cited the British Library and the Getty Research Institute as having some of the best archives in the world. “They're well-funded.” Locally, Lagrama said Ateneo de Manila University and De La Salle University are doing a good job of maintaining their archives because of the resources that are being poured into their upkeep.

A visit to the UPD University Archives will show that its conditions are far from ideal—tarpaulins covering shelves to shield them from leaking ceilings, cramped spaces, no protection from dust, and no humidity or temperature control—but its people clearly do the best they can.

“We just do passive preservation, so we try to keep the materials in a stable condition. Changes in temperature and humidity are bad for paper, which means it's better to have no airconditioning at all than to have it turned on during office hours and turned off at the end of the workday.”

Its house, Gonzalez Hall, also leaves much to be desired. It's looking its age, being one of the earliest structures erected in UPD from war reparation funds in the late 1940s. Lagrama revealed it “failed all the tests for structural integrity” and is now “the number one fire hazard building” on campus. She said that because of the sensitive structure, they have been moving heavy furniture to the lower levels and making use only of light materials for storage.

Despite its current state, Lagrama expressed hope that things will improve for the University Archives.

would have to give way to retrofitting first, which means additional expense and a bigger budget.

“Before President Alfredo Pascual left office, he earmarked more than P200 million for renovation.

We've also gotten commitments from Chancellor Michael Tan and President Danilo Concepcion. I hope things will get started by 2019 and completed after five or six years.”

More than fixing the existing physical structure, Lagrama also hopes that the University Archives will someday get its own building. “The Library and the Archives are growing entities and both need ample space.”

Additional human resources wouldn't hurt either.

“For now, our staff complement is better because we've grown from a staff of six to fourteen. But more manpower is always welcome.” As for the staff's development, Lagrama said she always encourages them to pursue graduate studies or take advanced training in conservation. She added that Prof. Chito Angeles, the University Librarian, is also looking into partnerships with foreign institutions for internship programs.

“I look forward to the day our archives become the ideal in the country—that we have the infrastructure, facilities, and resources to keep these materials safely and properly preserved, and available for future generations to see and learn from.”

For Lagrama and those who recognize the value of the University Archives, there is no better time than now to begin ensuring the kind of protection these treasures deserve—one that befits the national university of this country, whose history and life are inextricable from the development of the Filipino nation.

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

Tangible memories, priceless value The University Archives protect permanent University records, theses, dissertations, procedural documents, scholarly works, personal papers, UP publications, photographs, and items from UP personalities like medals, trophies, togas, artworks, and even furniture.

“I can't put a monetary value on what we have here,” said University Archives Head Librarian Eimee Lagrama. “We're talking about institutional memory and it's not something we can simply put a price tag on.”

Materials at the Archives are tangible records of memory, documenting the history of a University community, recording UP's development not just as an institution but capturing the intellectual ferment UP is known for.

Future plans and wishes For those who want to know if there are confidential materials, the answer is yes. And if you happen Gonzalez Hall is due for a makeover and there are to be faced with such, the best course of action plans for this to be done in the coming years. Because would be to consult the University's legal office. it failed structural integrity tests, however, renovation Ideal vs. real Keeping priceless materials requires a lot of care in their preservation, maintenance, and management. In an ideal situation, Lagrama said that archives should be temperature-controlled, humidity-controlled, and secured in a structure that can withstand natural and man-made disasters. In addition, archivists should be armed with conservation skills and have “intellectual control over the collection,” which means Top of the page: The University Archives section usually visited by researchers. Left: One of the storage areas where records are protected knowing each material from leaks by plastic covers. Right: University Archives Head Librarian Eimee Lagrama. Photos by Misael Bacani. “down to the last item.”

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 11

I

n some places, relics of the past are often relegated to certain sites and visited from time to time. But for UP Manila, history and heritage are literally carved into the walls of its campus, which stands unique among UP’s 17existing campuses in the way it blends past and present, academic excellence and public service, in one dynamic, seamless whole.

As Ms. Cynthia Villamor of the UP Manila Information, Publication, and Public Affairs Office puts it, “The architectural and landscape designs of most heritage buildings of UP Manila indeed reflect distinct periods in the history of the University and of the City of Manila. As the original birthplace and cradle of UP, the Padre Faura campus is home to heritage buildings and artifacts that date back to the early 1900s and were witnesses to its early struggles and formative years.”

Quoting the coffee-table book U.P. Manila: 100 Years of Heritage, Culture and Arts (2009): “The physical evolution of the original campus of the State University is a story that has two major layers—that of the new civic architecture introduced by Americans but eventually designed and built wholly by Filipinos, and that of education as a tool for economic and political growth. Both layers meld together to create what was and still is a key district of central Manila.”

Time, Space and UP Manila

A living history Many of the buildings in UP Manila are the products of the first generation of modern Filipino architects who were trained in the US. The first buildings were designed by William Parsons in 1908.

He completed the planning of the campus and melded it with the original Burnham master plan for Manila in 1905. Parsons also designed the buildings of the College of Medicine, the University Hall (now the Supreme Court), and the Philippine General Hospital (PGH).

Students, faculty, staff, and patients walk daily through heritage buildings such as Rizal Hall; the College of Medicine; the PGH with its two heritage structures, the

Celeste Ann L. Castillo Taking up space The UP Manila campus today is undeniably different from the other UP campuses. The city has grown all around it, and it is admittedly smaller, more cramped, and has fewer amenities and facilities than the other, bigger UP campuses. It is even often eclipsed by the PGH and the Supreme Court, the Court of Appeals and the Department of Justice that are occupying some of its old buildings.

Space management is a challenge for the smallest UP campus, which is why there are few available places on campus left for social and cultural activities. In fact, a long-standing joke is that the nearby Robinsons Place Manila mall serves as the de facto canteen and student center for UP Manila constituents. Within the campus, though, some venues stand out, such as the Tipunan sa UP Manila; the PGH grounds and Oblation Plaza, the PGH Atrium, the UP Manila Social Hall; the student tambayans at the back of the college buildings; the tambayans

Top left: The Nurses Home. Top right: Dr. Rizal's "Triumph of Science Over Death standing in front of the UP College of Medicine's Calderon Hall. Bottom left: Three of National Artist Botong Francisco's murals in the front lobby of the PGH. Bottom middle: National Artist Napoleon Abueva's "Celebration of Life". Bottom right: The UP College of Arts and Sciences' Rizal Hall. Photos from Jun Madrid.

Cancer Institute and Nurses Home; the College of Public Health; the National Institutes of Health; and the Museum of a History of Ideas (formerly the old Infirmary and later occupied by the College of Dentistry, which moved to its own building in 2002).

The heritage buildings are not the only treasures within the campus. There are works of art scattered about, such as the concrete replica of Dr. Jose Rizal's Triumph of Science Over Death, known colloquially as Triumph or Lady Med; the sculpture titled "Celebration of Life" by National Artist Napoleon Abueva; the murals of National Artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco in the PGH lobby, depicting the history of Philippine medicine; the mural titled History of Medicine by Jose Blanco at the PGH Lobby, created to commemorate the PGH’s 100th anniversary; and the mural at the NIH lobby by Salvador Juban of Angono, Rizal, portraying UP Manila scientists/researchers who have contributed to the advancement of Philippine medicine.

But by far the heart and soul of UP Manila, occupying 10 of the campus' 14 hectares, is the PGH itself. As the country's biggest modern tertiary hospital, the PGH serves more than half a million patients a year and trains thousands of health students and workers. The hospital is also a distinct landmark in the City of Manila, standing out with its classical and neoclassical design, history, and significance.

Most of UP Manila's heritage buildings were designed to resemble the PGH— huge pillars, high open ceilings, airy windows, graceful lines and curves, long corridors and open spaces that provide a contrast to the suffocating aura of illness and a welcome breathing space for the patients and their caregivers.

of the student organizations; the newly renovated UP Manila Theater at the Rizal Hall; and the UP Manila Museum of a History of Ideas. The ongoing infrastructure and facilities development project will provide more areas for people to get together, including the new 18-story NIH building and the CPH building. The latter two facilities will have more and bigger spaces for faculty lounges and conference rooms, auditoriums, and other areas where members can formally and informally interact and indulge in social, artistic, and cultural activities.

But the true beauty of UP Manila lies not in what it looks like, but in what it does. As UP’s health sciences center, UP Manila is the only constituent university that offers degree programs in medicine, dentistry, public health, nursing, pharmacy, allied health sciences, health professions education, and the only one of its kind in the world the ladderized curriculum in the health sciences from the School of Health Sciences in three campuses in Palo, Baler, and Koronadal. All research and community service done by its constituents are focused on healthrelated activities and advocacies. The impact of UP Manila on the health, policy, scientific and academic development of the country is immeasurable.

When asked a light-hearted question—if the campus of UP Manila were a single person, what kind of person would it be—Villamor says: “If isko and iska represent the students to whom much is given and much is also expected, and Oble refers to all of us in the University who are thirsty to learn and give back, then UP Manila is the scientist-scholar, the health professional, and leader serving and contributing to the health and well-being of the communities, the nation, and the world.”

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

12 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017

'For the nation, for the people' In barricades embattled, fighting in delirium, Others give you their lives without doubts, without gloom.

The site nought matters: cypress, laurel or lily: Gibbet or open field: combat or cruel martyrdom Are equal if demanded by country and home.

Andre dP. Encarnacion

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he second stanza of Jose Rizal's Mi Ultimo Adios translated above by National Artist Nick Joaquin has inspired many Filipinos to deeds both great and noble for the nation's sake. Of all its fruits, however, perhaps none has been more firmly molded into the Filipino psyche than the Oblation.

Since its cornerstone was laid down in 1931, National Artist Guillermo Tolentino's masterpiece has served as a rallying point for selfless action for the public interest, as well as the most recognizable and enduring symbol of the University of the Philippines (UP). Commissioned by then-UP President Rafael Palma, the Oblation is a tangible representation of Tolentino's interpretation of two of Jose Rizal's writing's—Mi Ultimo Adios and A La Juventud Filipina. The statue is an elevation of sacrifice on a pedestal, indicating a “clarion call for the youth to engage in the rigors of change and progress.”

The Oblation's unveiling during National Heroes Day introduced a figure into Philippine society rich in nationalist symbolism. The statue's height of 3.5-meters symbolizes three and a half centuries of Spanish colonial rule, while its pose of self-offering represents Tolentino's interpretation of Rizal's second stanza above—in particular the “unknown heroes who fell during the night.” Furthermore, its base is a stylized representation of the Philippine archipelago, with rocks from Montalban Gorge to highlight its cultural and historical significance.

The katakataka or “wonder plant” (Brophyllum pinnatum) symbolizes the heroism of the Filipino people. Seeing that segments of the plant thrown anywhere would “sprout into a young plant,” Tolentino viewed the plant as a symbol of a patriotism that continually grows in different places throughout the country.

Since the Oblation's move from Padre Faura to Diliman on February 11, 1949 as part of UP's transfer to a larger campus, the campuses that would compose what we now know as the University of the Philippines System would see the rise of their own versions of the beloved figure.

Renowned sculptors and artists, among them National Artist Napoleon Abueva, Anastacio Caedo who was also one of the models of the original statue, Fidel Araneta, and former UP Open University Chancellor Grace Javier Alfonso, would eventually make their own interpretations of the legendary figure in different constituent universities. Wherever it is to be found, the Oblation remains a symbol of strength, resilience and freedom of thought for UP and its graduates.

According to UP's Visual Identity Guide, the Oblation is a figure that demands respect in terms of use and visibility. It is always to be represented in its entirety, with the statue on its pedestal at all times to keep its historical and cultural significance intact. Splitting the figure or overlaying it with text is considered inappropriate; making the Oblation a mere decorative element violates the integrity of the University's visual identity.

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

National Artist Guillermo Tolentino's original Oblation in the UP Diliman Main Library. Photo by Misael Bacani.

Oblation at the UP Visayas Iloilo Campus. Photo by Bong Arboleda.

UP Diliman Oblation as the sun sets. Photo by Jun Madrid.

UP Mindanao's Oblation in the Oblation Plaza. Photo by Misael Bacani.

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 13

UP Baguio Oblation by Anastacio Caedo. Photo by Misael Bacani.

UP Cebu Oblation statue. Photo by Bong Arboleda.

Oblation statue at UP Bonifacio Global City. Photo by Misael Bacani.

UP Manila Oblation in front of the PGH. Photo by Jun Madrid.

Oblation at the UP Visayas Miagao Campus. Photo by Bong Arboleda.

Oblation statue at the newly-built UP Cebu Professional Schools. Photo by Bong Arboleda.

UP Los BaĂąos' Oblation by National Artist Napoleon Abueva. Photo by Misael Bacani.

14 UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017

Buen Comer. Photos by J. Mikhail G. Solitario.

What’s Cooking on Campus J. Mikhail G. Solitario

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n very rare occasions, the biggest challenge in the day of the average isko and iska is looking for a place to eat. This isn’t for a lack of choices within and off-campus, but because there’s too many—actually a surplus of food joints serving everything from snacks you can munch on in an Ikot jeep while running between classes, to more laidback and comfortable nooks where you can have a food trip with your GE classmates.

Apart from the noteworthy tapsilog in Rodic’s, or The Chocolate Kiss Café’s more posh offerings, there are a number of food hubs emerging from around the UP community. In case you’re looking for a new favorite spot, here are some.

Tinapay Tinapay is run by Kuya Onz, a resident of San Antonio Street, Pook Dagohoy in UP Diliman. He opened the store in mid-2000 but closed it briefly recently after he tried working abroad as an OFW. It was missed terribly by its patrons, mostly dormers looking for a quick bite late at night. Customers will be greeted by funny signs flanking its simple menu of footlong sandwiches, aptly named “footlong” for one long sausage, “feetlong” for two, and “footres” for three sausages in one footlong bun. They also serve burgers but what makes these sandwiches truly unique are the generous toppings of egg, ham, cheese, and multi-colored sauces ranging from green, blue, and yellow—something that will pop out of your Instagram feed. The store is open from 6:00PM to 1:00AM but they are closed on weekends.

Buen Comer For the more adventurous, a short tricycle ride from the campus will lead you to Buen Comer, a hole-in-the-wall joint which offers Filipino-Mexican fusion meals. The quaint, unassuming store opened its doors last year with a small metal van reminiscent of food trucks, and basic stools and

T

he UP Mindanao campus was established in Barangay Mintal located 16 kilometers from the city center at the boundary of suburban and rural Davao City. The UP Mindanao campus itself is twoand-a-half kilometers from the highway.

The College of Science and Mathematics is known by the nickname “Kanluran.” It’s one kilometer farther uphill from the Administration Building and deeper into the forest. In early-2000, students patronized the “KFC” or Kanluran Food Court. These were tiny stalls along the main campus dirt road operated by informal settlers. They served affordable snacks like pancit palabok and sandwiches, banana-cue, and minatamis-na-saging, perfect for cash-strapped students.

For full meals, students relied on the small canteen of Manang Lydia Espiritu and her husband which was housed in a wooden mess hall-type canteen provided by the College. This canteen has been upgraded in recent years into a concrete dining room but with a smaller area. Manang Lydia continues to

tables inside. Its tasty dishes soon caught up through word of mouth and the store has now gotten itself a Tinapay. Photo by J. Mikhail G. Solitario. cult following from foodies in the Maginhawa area.

This is no simple feat, as the Maginhawa-MalingapMatalino quadrant is continuously sprouting food Tomatokick parks and shops catering to a vast array of culinary Oldtimers in UP always tell the younger students cravings. Buen Comer’s bestseller is its kare-kare burthat the go-to drinking place is Sarah’s along C.P. rito which, as the name suggests, is kare-kare rice with Garcia Avenue. However, over the past decade, beef chunks wrapped in pita. You should also try nacho another watering hole has gained popularity among potato crisps, peri-peri chicken, steak and fries burrito members of the UP community—students and proand their limited edition pares burrito. fessors alike. Previously located along Maginhawa The Manininda Street (the old spot became campaign headquarters for a losing vice-presidential candidate), Tomatokick Of course, when you don’t have a lot of time and monis now located on Malingap Street in UP Village. ey, the landmark kiosks of the Samahan ng mga ManiWith its typical but tasty renditions of the usual ninda are your best friend. The unmistakable green iron pulutan paired with local beers and spirits, the restobooths bear the standard feast of fishballs, squid balls, bar has also been a spot for cultural performances kwek-kwek, pancit canton, and sandwiches. You may (Parokya ni Edgar even had a spontaneous gig last order separately or through their “combos” which usuMarch), poetry reading and book launches, and even ally include a meal and drinks. These kiosks are found charitable fundraisers for conflict-ridden areas in the all around campus but people frequent the ones near the country. Tomatokick is now a hub not just for merCollege of Architecture, the College of Arts and Letters, rymaking but for meaningful endeavors as well.

Vinzons Hall, and the College of Human Kinetics.

Tomatokick. Photos by J. Mikhail G. Solitario.

operate the canteen in “Kanluran” with her husband.

The other canteen on campus since early 2000 was one kilometer downhill near the administration building and operated by Marichu Mendez. Although housed in a “beach-house” type building made of plywood and screens, the canteen met the demand of the seasonal student market and operated seven days a week, being near the Elias B. Lopez Hall Dormitory, the College of Humanities and Social Sciences and the School of Management. Ms. Mendez reportedly served food for free to students who were penniless.

UP Mindanao recently put up the Kalimudan (“Convergence”) Student Center, with concessionaires who provide snacks and full meals. The popular offerings here include fruit shake drinks and rice pastil which is boiled rice with strips of meat wrapped in banana leaf. Ms. Mendez continues to operate a canteen in the Kalimudan. Half-servings are available upon request of students who are saving money.

To meet the demand of constituents stuck in their

offices, ambulant vendors Maribel Bustamante and Rodelia “Bibing” Niegas deliver food to them. Maribel provides popular dishes like law-uy vegetable stew with rice, and lumpia, while Bibing serves rice cakes like puto, biko, palitaw, and lumpiang kamote.

Seasonally, fruits are delivered from neighborhood farms to the campus. Durian and rambutan are some of the popular fruits that are sold for unbelievably low prices.

In the most exciting development for UP constituents, a new ice-cream producer has set its production facility in Bgy. Mintal. Donna Ice Cream is a new and constant presence at university birthday parties, with a gallon of ice-cream selling for only P300. UP Mindanao’s presence has clearly brought not only more food but more fun to Bgy. Mintal.

-------------------With contributions from Mr. Rene Estremera and Assistant Professors Aileen Delima and Cyrose Millado of UP Mindanao. Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

UP FORUM Volume 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 15 9

Managing UP Diliman’s Buildings and Sites

...continued from page 16

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Completed Projects (Highlights)

Renovation Works Molave Residence Hall Ipil Residence Hall College of Law Complex College of Mass Communication (CMC) UP Film Institute Natural Sciences Research Institute (NSRI) Research Building College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) Math Building Annex College of Human Kinetics (CHK) College of Education College of Home Economics (CHE) laboratories University Shopping Center UP-Meralco Innovation Hall, Engineering Complex UP Integrated School Grades 3-6 canteen Rehabilitation or Construction of Security Fences of Ilang-Ilang Residence Hall Sampaguita Residence Hall Veterinary Teaching Hospital Engineering Complex National Institute of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology (NIMBB) imaging laboratory fit-out School of Labor and Industrial Relations (SOLAIR) parking area development CMC virtual arts and culture museum & digital media archives Institute of Biology construction CHE Food Innovation Facility College of Fine Arts Annex Building School of Statistics Building National Science Complex site development

Ongoing Projects (Highlights)

Proposed academic building and Multi-Purpose Building of UP Pampanga DOST-UP Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering (DMMME) Gold Copper Processing Plant in Cabadbaran, Agusan Del Norte Roofing system and Re-painting at the UP Virata School of Business Student Center at the National Science Complex

Design and Build of the Proposed Infrastructure for UP EEEI Microsatellite Research Laboratory UP Tourism Heritage Complex of the Asian Institute of Tourism College of Fine Arts new building CHE Complex Phase 1

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New Buildings and Renovation Abelardo Hall Auditorium Computer Science Building Phase 1 the College of Engineering Library Learning Commons UP Theater parking development UPCA Complex Studio Laboratories building Rehabilitation and Renovation National Science Complex University Computer Center Main Building UP Vargas Museum OVCRD auditorium lobby Tooms at CSWCD academic and administration buildings CMC Plaridel Hall and Annex Building UPIS 3-6 Bulwagan Base Compaction of UPD Football Field Fencing of UP Property

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Completion of Energy and Environmental Engineering building DMMME building School of Statistics building

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Some ongoing infrastructure projects in UP Diliman. Photos from the UPD-OCA. On page 16: (1) Completion of the DMMME Building, Eng'g Complex. (2) College of Engineering Library Learning Commons. (3) College of Fine Arts New Building. (4) DOSTUP DMMME Gold Copper Processing Plant in Bicol Region.

On this page: (5) UPCA Auditorium. (6-7) UP Tourism Heritage Complex. (8) Computer Science Building Phase 1. (9) UP EEEI Microsatellite Lab. (10) College of Home Economics Complex Phase 1. (11) School of Statistics Phase 2.

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Jose Y. Dalisay, Jr. Editor-in-Chief Jose Wendell P. Capili Frances Fatima M. Cabana Associate Editors Flora B. Cabangis Managing Editor Luis V. Teodoro Copy Editor

The UP FORUM Celeste Ann L. Castillo Fred E. Dabu Andre dP. Encarnacion Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo J. Mikhail G. Solitario Writers

Celeste Ann L. Castillo Layout Artist Stephanie S. Cabigao Webmaster: Forum Online Nena R. Barcebal Researcher

Abraham Q. Arboleda Misael A. Bacani Jonathan M. Madrid Photographers Alicia B. Abear Michael R. Basco Roberto G. Eugenio Tomas M. Maglaya Cristy M. Salvador Administrative Staff

UP Media and Public Relations Of fice, University of the Philippines System  UP Diliman, Quezon City  Trunkline 981-8500 loc. 2550, 2552, 2549, e-mail: upforum@up.edu.ph

THE UP FORUM

16 UP FORUM 18 No. 3 July-September 2017 University of theVolume Philippines

Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines, 1101

Managing UP Diliman’s Buildings and Sites 1

Fred E. Dabu

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s the flagship campus of the University of the Philippines System, the 493-hectare UP Diliman campus is home to renowned cultural sites such as the Oblation Plaza, the University Amphitheater, the Carillon Tower and Plaza, the Sunken Garden, the Parish of the Holy Sacrifice, the Jorge B. Vargas Museum and Filipiniana Research Center, the UP Main Library, the University Theater Complex, and the Asian Center. The campus attracts thousands of visitors from Metro Manila, the provinces, and other countries daily. The UP Diliman administration manages 167 academic and administrative buildings, 11 dormitories, and 1,143 University-provided housing units, plus its open spaces, parks and protected forest areas.

These buildings and sites—and the health and safety concerns of the community—are all attended to by the UP Diliman Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs (OVCCA) headed by Prof. Nestor T. Castro. The OVCCA oversees the following offices to address the community’s ever-growing needs: the Office of the Campus Architect (OCA), the University Health Service (UHS), the Campus Maintenance Office (CMO), the Housing Office, the Chief Security Officer, the Office of Community Relations (OCR), and the Task Force on Solid Waste Management (TFSWM).

UP Diliman’s Office of the Campus Architect (OCA), with Arch. Enrico B. Tabafunda as its director, is in charge of infrastructure planning and delivery. To keep up with the demands of the times and to better serve the UP Diliman community, the OCA recently completed several infrastructure projects, and has several more projects currently ongoing.

Maintaining the campus grounds The UP Diliman Campus Maintenance Office (CMO), headed by Arch. James Christopher P.

Ongoing UP Infrastructure Project: UPCA Complex Studio Laboratories building. Photo from the UPD-OCA.

Buño, provides building and grounds maintenance services to colleges and units of the University. According to Dir. Buño, “building maintenance services include works in carpentry, painting, plumbing, electrical installations and welding that are necessary for the upkeep of UP Diliman’s buildings. Grounds maintenance services, on the other hand, involve the upkeep of its roads, drainage and sewage systems, sweeping of streets and other open spaces, cutting of grass, collection of litter, and care of trees and ornamental plants.” The CMO annually receives more than 6,000 work orders for maintenance services.

“Aside from these, the office also provides support services like hauling and assistance in venue setups during special events. It also has a Quick Response Team which handles maintenance operations during typhoons and emergencies and incidents that pose threats to the upkeep of the campus facilities and safety of the members of the UP Diliman community,” Buño adds.

The CMO could use more workers, utility trucks, and heavy equipment. The office has a workforce of around 160, but according to Buño, the office is “approximately 40 people short of its projected ideal manpower.” He explains that “continuous development in the campus is also expected to affect the operations of the CMO as more and more buildings being built increases the scope and demand for maintenance services.”

To address these challenges, Buño says the CMO teams up with faculty, students and administrators “in improving existing processes and creating new practices, through: active involvement in different committees and projects where the campus facilities and amenities are involved; coordination with Building Administrators who share in the responsibility of maintenance particularly within their respective units; and partnership with faculty and students in various research and academic projects relating to the maintenance of the campus and the office’s other operations.”

-------------------Email the author at upforum@up.edu.ph.

See page 15 for photos and captions.

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