BEED
1.  Avanzado, Genalyn V.
2.  Cabajon, Joann B.
3.  Caballero, Yvonne C.
4.  Calape, Mary Mae A.
5.  Calumba, Sheens April G.
6.  Feril, Evamae T.
7.  Gabutero, Liznil S.
8.  Japin, Freya Mae T.
9.  Macahilos, Cloyde Jhane B.
10. Martinez, Margrete Grace I.
11. Moreno, Yechel J.
12. Olores, Edna C.
13. Orbeta, Precious Pearl S.
14. Quindo, Shalla Mar
15. Remontal, red Rose R.
16. Romano, Flora Mie
17. Salvor, Mirajean B.
18. Sarabia, Lideth Joy M.
19. Sollesta, Jelfa G.
20. Suminguit, Juliet I.
21. Tubio, Jona Mae B.
22. Villahermosa, Alora A.
23. Villarmino, Denver S.
24. Vendiola, James Roy L.

BSED – English
1. Alagad, Cliressa Mae M.
2. Arnaiz, Mona Jean C.
3. Cadungon, Kristina S.
4. Oracoy, Alfie Ann Y.

BSED – Filipino
1. Montenegro, Arlyn R.

BSED – General Science
1. Gerasol, Gino C.

BSED – Mathematics
1. Carballo, Julius Ceasar Jr. E.
2. Rabanera, Judith A.
3. Maduro, Ma. Shiela Mae V.

BSED  – PEHM
1. Sarsaga, Jan Michael M.
2. Villanueva, Chris Angelo R.
3. Cabebe, Hazel Jean G.

Dean Roullette Cordevilla said the College of Education is proud that the passing average of their graduates is higher than the national passing average.

Taken from Dumaguete Metropost – Joel Llanos

On Saturday, December 17, Tropical Storm Sendong roared into Dumaguete City and Negros Oriental, dropping 180 millimeters (over 7 inches) of rain in less than one hour. Flash floods over two stories high rushed from the mountains as people were having breakfast. The deluge leveled everything in its path — dikes, bridges and houses–some with people in them. Over 38 people have been confirmed dead in Negros Oriental. Damage to infrastructure was initially pegged at close to Php 400 million. These numbers are expected to rise as reports continue to trickle in.

Foundation University campus was spared any major destruction but many of its students either lost their homes or suffered great losses and may have to stop schooling as their families concentrate on rebuilding their lives from the devastation.

To help them, we have established a scholarship fund for the storm victims so that their education would not be delayed on account of Sendong. You can help these students fulfill their dreams. To enroll one student, it costs about Php 20,000 (USD 465) per semester. Help rebuild a dream this Christmas by contributing to this fund.

Under my watch as head of the University of the Philippines sports program where UP became three-time general champion of the UAAP, no coach ever dared ask me what this coach so brazenly suggested.

I stood up, towered over him, and bellowed: “Get out of here!”

The coach explained that this is the practice in other institutions, hence, there was nothing wrong with it. I repeated my instruction, and that I never wanted to see him again. He was later was asked to resign.

Recently, our current basketball coach dropped seven senior players from the team for reasons he described as “skills never developed to higher level, not strong enough for university play, never became a team player,” and “worst influence on younger players, with a negative attitude, not willing to follow instructions, and primary cause of disorder in the team”.

These seven players met with the FU President asking to be reinstated, a request the President turned down because what they wanted was for the University to replace the coach so they could continue to play. Such gall being manifested by young athletes is unbelievable!

Thwarted, the most senior of the players began sending “hate” text messages to the coach: “you are ignorate (sic) and lier (sic), if you don’t want to play because your (sic) afraid say so.”

This act of discourtesy prompted the University to conduct an investigation which could result in the suspension or dismissal of the student.

Last Sunday, Nov. 27, another incident committed publicly at the Silliman Ballfield finally convinced Foundation University to launch a campaign to create awareness of the need for concerned authorities, specifically those directly involved in children and youth sports, to take action that will curb or minimize the acts of impunity being committed in sporting activities by sports events organizers, coaches, and players—a wrong flagrantly committed because those in authority fail to supervise the individuals they have assigned to do the tasks of sports organization and participation and the desire to win at all cost.

It was a joyful sight to behold, young children playing football in the Sandurot Cup, accompanied by parents and family members. I particularly enjoyed seeing fat and obese children chasing and kicking, albeit awkwardly, the ball and jumping up enthusiastically when a goal is made, wishing they would continue to participate to counteract the growing incidence of obesity among children.

During a lull in the games, the FU players were asked by members of an opposing team how they were faring, and when they said they have lost their two matches (actually, they have not lost any), their counterparts bragged that they have won all theirs. One FU player who was not allowed to play because he was over-aged asked one of the opposing players why he was playing when he was also over-aged.

That little boy’s question became the tipping point for FU to launch a campaign to reform sports in our UniTown.

In the book, The Joy and Sadness in Children’s Sports, author Rainer Martens quotes Louis Alley: “…sports should be thought of as a double-edged sword, capable of cutting in opposite directions. The direction the sword cuts depends on those who swing it, not on the sword itself.”

When FU founded the Institute of Youth Sports for Peace (IYSPeace), the vision was for it to act as a “swinger” of the double-edged sports sword. The direction of the swinging sword is aimed at promoting values enshrined in a “Sports Covenant” entered into by sports leaders and teachers in Negros Oriental on the inauguration of IYSPeace in 2007. The first of this covenant is for all participants in IYSPeace sports activities to refrain from acts that constitute cheating and violence.

Back to the Sunday incident. The over-aged boy admitted to his peers that, indeed, he was over-aged. An FU coach asked the two coaches of the opposing team why they fielded over-aged players. Both ignored him.

The teams from the same school of both coaches eventually played against each other, one team with over-aged players, and the other with players of the right age. The latter team prevailed.

Surprisingly, however, the coach of the latter team approached the curious FU coach, put an arm around the neck of the FU coach, and hit him on the temple. This he did in public. And the sad part is, the parents of the team with over-aged children joined in heckling of the FU coach.

Philippine sports is reportedly plagued with malpractices and undesirable conduct committed even the at the highest level of the sports hierarchy. Both the chair and president of the Philippine Olympic Committee are facing charges of malversation of public funds. The Palarong Pambansa held in Naga City in 2006 was fraught with cheating with regional delegations using players who were over-aged. The biggest Protestant university in the Philippines lost its membership in the NCAA after it was discovered it had over-aged players in its high school basketball team. And a reputedly world-class university in Manila was banned from the UAAP for one year after it was proven that two of its varsity basketball players submitted fake academic credentials, purportedly obtained with the assistance and connivance of its team manager.

The Sunday incident has encouraged FU, an institution that invests countless of manhours and millions of pesos to sustain its various sports activities, to protect its sports programs, particularly the “Children and Youth @ Play” undertaken in response to the Convention on the Rights of the Child mandating UN members to provide ample opportunities for children to engage in play and recreation.

President Mira D. Sinco has written the principal of the school which allowed the fielding of over-aged players in the Sandurot Cup that effective immediately, and for the rest of 2012, that school’s football team, the coach, and even the children concerned, are banned from participating in all FU-sponsored sports events.

The same letter has been likewise sent to the presidents of academic institutions in the University Town, seeking their support and participation in the campaign for everyone to observe ethical practices in sports.

By Dr. Aparicio Mequi

I contacted Commissioner Gomez who is currently in Baguio City for the Northern Luzon leg of the PBP and he said that after the nationals of this children’s games scheduled in Naga City on Dec 10-13, the PSC Board will meet to approve a Board Resolution to formally make Negor as the official host of the PNG 2012. Gomez will then submit the BR to Governor Roel Degamo who will secure approval of the Provincial Board. It is anticipated that the Board Members will approve the hosting as this will be an opportunity for the Province to showcase it capability and potential for hosting major sporting events. It will also serve as a prelude to bid for Negor to host the 2013 Palarong Pambansa, which the late Governor Dr. Emilio “Dodo” Macias attempted to win but lost out to Leyte in 2009.

The PNG 2012 is barely six months away and Juny Dumalag has to mobilize province-wide support and resources to insure successful staging of several sporting disciplines. The last PNG was hosted by Negros Occidental and the following information may be useful in the preparations that will be undertaken by the Negros Oriental.

The PSC budget for last year’s PNG was pegged at P26.5 million. Four hundred hotel rooms were reserved for 850 guests. Billeting in schools was prepared for some 7,800 athletes and 1,000 officials. Four cities were selected as venues for 35 sporting disciplines. Bacolod City was the site for badminton, beach volleyball, billiards, equestrian, fencing, gymnastics, judo, karate do, lawn tennis, motorcycle sports, sailing, soft tennis, swimming, taekwondo, volleyball, wall climbing, weightlifting, wind surfing, and wrestling.

In Bago City, the following events were held: kayak, dragon boat, muay thai, and wushu. Talisay hosted road cycling, futsal, football, penchat silat, softball, and table tennis. Silay City was the host for archery, arnis, sepak takraw and triathlon. The other events not held but might be added to the 2012 calendar are basketball, boxing, dancesport, golf, chess, and shooting.

There will also be seminars and lectures on sports nutrition, sports psychology and other subjects in sports science.

Can we in Negros Oriental host such a formidable list of sporting disciplines which will require significant mobilzation of manpower and material resources? My ready answer is yes. And I make this conclusion on what I personally witnessed in the PNG last year In Bacolod.

Equestrian cannot be held anywhere outside of Metro Manila and besides, what talents can be discovered in the provinces if the purpose of the PNG is to discover grassroots potentials? Are there equestrian aficionados in the provinces? Ditto for fencing. These two are expensive sports which I believe are not practice outside of Metro Manila.

Our natural environment of mountains, forest and bodies of water make perfect setting for water sports like kayaking, wind surfing, dragon boat and sailing. We have had occasions to stage competitions in shooting and billiards, triathlon, marathons, and golf. In other words, the sports in the PNG are not foreign to Negrenenses.

When Foundation University hosted the UniGames in 2009, Valencia was the main venue for volleyball and Tanjay was alternate venue for basketball. Dauin is an excellent place for holding water sports, and Lake Balinsasayaw serving as the venue for kayaking.

The sports facilities of the Province (Macias Cultural & Sports Center, Aqua Center, Perdices Stadium, and Convention Center), the academic institutions like SU, FU, SPUD, NORSU are more than adequate to serve as competition venues. We have golf courses, tennis courts and a shooting range. And most of all, we have competent sports organizers in our midst, and a people that are sports minded.

Indeed, let’s get the Philippine Sports Commission to bring the Philippine National Games 2012, to Negros Oriental. Kaya natin ito!

By Dr. Aparicio Mequi

Ma. Charlotte V. Carino, Dean of CHM and Marilou M. Pidor, trainer for Commercial Cooking said that a total of 146 trainees and 2 faculty passed the series of assessment conducted from August 25 to October 21, 2011 for Commercial Cooking NCII. The two faculty were Gerardo T. Paltingca, Jr. and Romilene R. Cerdania, other faculty members of CHM had already earned their certifications last year.

Engr. Juan V. Ogabang, Jr. of TESDA 7-Negros Oriental Provincial Office said that he is very impressed of the performance of the trainees during the assessment because they not only possess the competencies but showed mastery in their area of specialization. Further, he recommended that Foundation University be an Assessment Center in the whole province of Negros Oriental due to its first-rate facilities.

The following Competency Areas for TESDA assessment are scheduled in the Second Semester: Housekeeping NCII; Front Office Services NCII; Food & Beverages Services NCII.

Josphat Kiptanul of Kenya won the men’s division of the 42km adventure marathon while another Kenyan, Ben Kipaski, won the men’s division of the 21k half marathon.

Kiptanul, 25, clocked 2:43:21 for the adventure marathon. “It was a really good adventure run,” Kiptanul, who had also joined several full marathons and half marathons before the DAM.

“The hardest part is the way going to an uphill and when you pass through stones and bushes. I just walked a little bit,” he said.

Unknown to most runners, Kiptanul and most of the Kenyans had been training for a month in Dumaguete before the contest. “My competitors were also strong but I had an advantage so I used it to win,” he said.

Following Kiptanul was Engr. Wendell Lopez of Sta. Catalina, who clocked 2:51:07.

The 42k women’s division was won by Jennylyn Nobleza of the ANZ runners of Silay City, Negros Occidental, with a time of 3:52:02.

She beat Kenyan Susan Jumutal who came in at 4:04:54.

“The route was very nice but very tough.” Jumutal, 29, said, as she also heaped praises on the organizers. “Organization was very nice. We get bananas, water, Gatorade less than 2km apart.” This was Jumutal’s first 42k but she’s planning to join next year’s race.

Two time-DAM champion Jeson Agravante, of Silay City managed only a fourth-place win in the 42k category, after getting lost in the trail. But he, too, looks forward to joining the DAM next year to reclaim his crown.

Some runners, like triathlete Hiroshi Takei, signed up for the 42k and got a big surprise. “I was expecting it to be a road race but it went up into the mountain and it was one of the toughest races I’ve ever joined,” he said.

Takei noted that there were marshals everywhere. In every corner, there were friendly students helping and giving directions. Water was OK.

He surmised that his performance was simply because he was not fit this year. “I want to come back strong and maybe I can race again.”

Asked to sum up his DAM experience, Takei replied, “Excellent!”

Ultra-marathoner Simon Sandoval, one of only two Filipinos who finished the 166 km Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc in France last August, found the trail just as he had expected. “The scenery is very beautiful, there was water along the way and no one got lost. It was a very good run,” he said.

Another runner, who goes by the name of The Scientist Runner, ran the DAM as his 23rd 42k run and raved about it in his blog as “A DAM good run, indeed!”

In an email to this writer, The Scientist Runner said “I enjoyed the race and will somehow advertise the DAM through my blog The Scientist Runner and among fellow Marathon Maniacs in Asia and elsewhere… I guess you can expect more foreign and out-of-town DAM participants next year .

Organized by Foundation University, the DAM is “FU’s gift to the city of gentle people of Negros Oriental” and is held every third Sunday of November. It is a run that has an advocacy of rice conservation, in partnership with the Philippine Rice Research Institute and the Asia Rice Foundation.

Preparations are now being made for the DAM 2012 which will be held on November 18 next year.

The Robinson’s Place Dumaguete, the center of activity of the DAM and other Rice-is-Life activities, continued to be abuzz with activity after the run, with the holding of the Rice-is-Life cookfest. This was a contest that featured several ways of cooking rice dishes–from the ordinary boiled rice to native delicacies Suman, Biko, Bibingka and others. The aim of the cookfest, which was participated by representatives from various local government units in Negros Oriental, was to show the various ways of preparing rice and to stress the need to conserve it.

The final event for the day was the launching of the Gabo Ghas children’s e-book. This e-book, which was made by EntheosIT, a BPO firm, was based on the winning Visayan translations of the book Gabby-Ghas written by a student from Calamba Institute, which was won by the students of the Siaton Science High School in the town of Siaton, the rice granary of Negros Oriental and the Felipe Tayko Memorial School, also of Siaton.

The translation of the book was done with the support of PhilRice and the Asia Rice Foundation, who sent representatives to Dumaguete led by Dr. Benito Vergara.

Taken From Dumaguete Adventure Marathon – Alex Pal

Thank you for joining the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon 2011!

This was the first time we had the 42K route (from 31.5k last year) and some of you have helped make history in Negros Oriental by joining the first-ever 42K Adventure Marathon.

Kudos, too, to our 21k, 10.5k, 3k and 1.5k runners (we also had a category for Persons with Disabilities). Every run is a unique challenge for each runner and most of the runners are agreed that the route was TOUGH BUT FUN.

It was indeed our pleasure to be involved in the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon, and we are now planning for DAM 2012 scheduled on November 18, 2012. We are always looking out for ways of improving the run. We welcome your suggestions at .

We look forward to having you again soon.

DAM…it feels good (let’s do it again)!

The Organizers

Runners who have registered for the full 42k adventure marathon come from many parts of the country, as well from Singapore, Paris and Kenya.

Dr. Aparicio Mequi, DAM race director, said this event, which is Foundation University’s gift to the gentle people of Negros Oriental, also aims to promote a healthy lifestyle through running.

The Dumaguete Adventure Marathon which has its roots in the Leandro Sinco Challenge Races first staged in July 2006, is unique and different from its counterpart events held in the Philippines and other parts of the world, for two reasons.

First, the 42.195k route consists of flat city streets, trail paths, off-roads, steep lung-busting uphill, and hard-breaking downhill runs, challenging even the most experienced runner as it provides an exhilarating view of Nature’s green forest and blue waters of the seas that surround the natural beauty of Negros Oriental. It is truly an eco-adventure run that beckons an unforgettable experience.

Secondly, it is the only marathon in the whole of Planet Earth that celebrates rice—a “symbol of cultural identity and global unity, shaping religious observance, festivals, customs and cuisine.”

The DAM aims to create awareness that the key to rice and food sustainability, in the reduction of hunger and poverty, and environmental preservation for the present and future generation—is a culture of conservation.

In the registration form, participants make the pledge to “Save rice. Save lives.”

Rice—sacks and bags of rice—not cash, are the prizes that are awarded to the participants of the DAM, the only sports tourism event that promotes respect for the Golden Grain of Life.

The Dumaguete Adventure Marathon was a finalist in the 2009 Anvil Awards for promoting an active and wellness lifestyle and for contributing to the reduction of lifestyle diseases among Dumagueteños.

The Foundation University community members, numbering over 3,000, will participate in the 10.5km category, an offshoot of the institution’s “Quarter Marathon Program.” Under this program, all students taking up physical education are required to walk a distance of a quarter marathon for each of the four-semesters that they take up PE. Thus, upon graduation, they shall have walked a distance of a full 42km, making them, in a sense, “marathon walkers”. Through this experience, they could adopt walking as a lifetime exercise for wellness—and likewise become advocates for local government public policy on pedestrian-based urban planning and development—and create “Walkable Communities” to mitigate Climate Change (now, a Climate Crisis).

The Jaguar Timing system utilizing electronic chips will be used to process the finishers’ time of some 4,000 participants who will join this biggest sport-tourism event in Negros Oriental, scheduled on November 20, 2011, as a component of the Dumaguete City Charter Day celebration and observance of the national “Rice Month” in November.

The DAM 2011 race categories are:
3-km for children aged under-13, children with disabilities (CWD), persons with disabilities (PWD), and senior citizens (60-above)
5-km for children 13-under to 17 years old
Quarter marathon (10.5-km), by age category, 17-above
Half-marathon (21.5-km), open category
Full-marathon (42.195-km) open category

Other Rice-Related Events of the DAM 2011:
“Rice is Life” Cookfest – a cooking competition among students/adults representing their schools, municipalities/cities featuring the cooking and preparation of rice-based dishes and traditional cooking practices (puso-making) aimed at preserving Filipino rice cooking tradition and culture.

“Rice is Life” Rap and Hip-Hop Children Concert – Rap singing and hip-hop dancing are the young generation’s way of expressing themselves, hence, utilizing these as a medium for promoting an advocacy espoused by young people is a special feature of the DAM. Children representing schools and barangays sing and dance their original composition extolling love and respect for Rice—the Grain of Life.

Book Launching of the Cebuano version of a children’s book on rice: Gabby Ghas, in book form, animation and ebook.

Upon the request of the Asia Rice Foundation, the Foundation University held a competition among school children for the translation of the English version into Cebuano. Children from schools in Siaton, the “Rice Granary” of Southern Negros, won the contest. Their work will be launched to the public as part of the DAM. GG is a delightful children’s book about a tiny grain of palay that “encapsulates for young people the hidden science behind the production of the world’s most widely eaten staple food.”

The “Rice is Life Marathon” has as its components a “Shoes for Children” project wherein used shoes from abroad are given to poor children who join the marathon running clinic, and copied by a popular marathon organizer; and a “Porridge for Children” lugaw feeding project, where volunteer students serve hot porridge to poor children and children with disabilities after the Sunday morning walk/runs.

Truly, the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon is not only an adventure in running but is also a medium for creating a “healthy people on a healthy Planet Earth.”

Taken from Dumaguete Metropost

Organizing the DAM, participated in by some 4,000 walkers and runners, some of whom coming from France, Germany, Nairobi, Japan, Singapore, USA, Metro Manila, Cebu, and Mindanao, requires mustering the support of hundreds of volunteers, funds amounting to over a million pesos, and the bountiful goodwill and generosity of Negrenenses and Dumagueteños.

With limited material resources but with a grateful academic community that realizes its indebtedness to the City that has been hosting the institution for the past 62 years, Foundation University organized the marathon as its “gift to the City of Gentle People” as the City celebrates its 63rd Charter Day and fiesta.

Current protocol in marathon staging is the use of electronic timing chips for the monitoring and processing of race results. Runners nowadays, from the fastest to the slowest, are more demanding in wanting to know their times and places right after the race.

With thousands of runners to be processed, the only way to meet this demand is to procure an electronic timing system. The cost of this equipment is about P640,000 and about P170,000 for the 5,000 disposable electronic chips that runners attach to their bib numbers. Thus, for the timing system alone, FU had to fork out P810,000.

The DAM, from its inception five years ago, is also known as the “Rice is Life” marathon, the only marathon held to celebrate rice—the Grain of Life, and what a rice scientist referred to as “…not only a cereal (in Asia), but the root of civilization.”

All participants in the DAM make a pledge “To Save Rice, Save Lives”, a rice conservation corporate social responsibility shared among FU, the Asia Rice Foundation, Philippine Rice Research Institute, and the Department of Agriculture.

Instead of awarding cash prizes to winners and participants, bags and sacks of rice are given. For the DAM, a total of 225 sacks (cavans) of rice valued at P393,750 was procured.

Focusing its advocacy on children and youngsters, and to encourage them to observe rice conservation practices, each participant in the 3km kiddie and 5km finishers run will be bringing home a kilo of rice.

In addition to the rice prizes, medals will be awarded to all the finishers of the 21km half and full marathon, costing P18,100. Certificates will be given to all finishers of the 10.5km at a cost of P15,200.

The number of warm bodies involved in the implementation of the marathon: 110 medical team consisting of Red Cross Youth, FU Nursing faculty, medical doctors, nurses, health personnel, and ambulance crews from Dumaguete, Valencia, Sibulan, Bindoy, Ayungon, and Bayawan; with a budget of P14,500; 20 people from the traffic management group with a budget of P5,000; 20 policemen detailed from Dumaguete, 15 from Valencia, and 10 from Sibulan with a budget of P11,250; 289 FU faculty, staff, and student volunteers to man the check-off points, water and sponging stations, and assist in ensuring the safety of walkers and runners. Many of these volunteers will be deployed along the routes in the barangays of Sibulan and Valencia as early as midnight of Saturday.

The test of a successful marathon is the availability of drinking water throughout the race route.

It was reported that a marathon held in Cebu offering the most expensive cash prizes of P70,000 to the winning men and women finishers had runners buying water from stores along the route because the organizers failed to provide enough water for them.

For the DAM, a total of 183 water jars or 3,660 liters worth P32,025 will be provided. Another 4,000 bottles of water will be provided for every participant, estimated at P44,000.

To prevent the full marathon runners from “bonking”, a condition where a runner experiences extreme hunger, 1000 pieces of bananas will be provided. A budget of P1,000 was allotted for this. Another 4,000 pieces of bananas will be given to all the participants as part of their post-run meal.

About P20,000 have been spent so far for organizational meetings, transportation and communication, promotions, and production of collaterals. Development and maintenance of the website has cost FU about P50, 000.

If told five years ago that it would need something like P1,418,825 to stage a DAM, FU President Mira Sinco would probably have had second thoughts about approving of the undertaking.

But FU Chairman of the Board Dean Sinco, who has personally witnessed the health, social, and economic benefits that the Honolulu Marathon brings to that 50th state of the Union (where he resides with his family), has fully supported the DAM from its inception. He had always wanted to organize here in Dumaguete a full 42km marathon, and has been responsible for choosing the sectors where the course has been set up—making the DAM a unique, challenging, and environmentally-wholesome experience.

FU has limited material resources to provide for all the requirements of staging the DAM successfully. It had to secure the support and participation of the academic community with everybody without exception — from the students, faculty, staff, including the physical plant workers — asked to join the event; and who have responded generously and enthusiastically.

The DAM had cast a magical spell on everyone, sharing the joy and excitement of manifesting the spirit of caring attached to a marathon.

There’s a long list of generous people, business establishments, institutions, and organizations who have given substantial support in kind, in cash, and moral support. They will be properly acknowledged in the DAM website. Without them, no one in Dumaguete would be able to hold an event similar to the DAM. And only the grace and blessing of the Almighty will give them back what they have shared with FU its gift to our beloved City.

By Dr. Aparicio Mequi

As a gift on his coronation, former President Marcos gave the Shah a packet of IR seeds, otherwise known as “Miracle Rice,” produced by the International Rice Research Institute, which was established in 1960 at the UP College of Agriculture in Los Banos, Laguna.

Indeed, what appropriate gift can one give to one of the richest men on earth on his coronation if not rice—the golden grain of life?

The first National Rice Month was proclaimed by former US President George Bush in 1991. In 2004, former President Arroyo signed Proclamation No. 524 declaring every November as National Rice Awareness Month, thus, officially adopting the International Year of the Rice in the Philippines declared by the UN in recognition of rice and its significant role in various cultures and traditions, and as staple food for more than half of the population of planet earth.

Foundation University has a unique way of observing Rice Month, dating back to July of 2006, two years after Proclamation No. 524. Its first major move was to adopt the “Rice is Life” campaign of the Asia Rice Foundation, inspired by the report of Dr. Kwanchai A. Gomez: “For more than half of humanity, rice is life. It is the grain that has shaped the history, culture, diet, and economy of billions of people of Asia. Many of them sleep on rice straw, drink rice liquor and offer rice to their gods. The growth stages of rice mark the passage of time and season…rice is not just a cereal; it is the root of civilization.”

The observance of Rice Month in the form of creating public awareness of the need to conserve rice is the underlying focus of FU when it adopted the “Rice is Life” campaign as one of its institutional corporate social responsibility programs.

In the early 1950s, the Philippines was a leading rice producer. Fifty years later, it has become the highest rice-importing country in the world. The Food & Nutrition Research Institute of the DOST estimates that each Filipino wastes three tablespoons of rice daily, and that this wastage in Filipino households translates to a staggering P9.6 billion a year, an amount enough to feed 4.3 million hungry Filipinos.

These facts led FU to suggest a paradigm shift which advocates that the key to food and rice sustainability, one of the Millennium Development Goals, is not arming farmers with the latest technology aimed at increasing production but, rather, to create a “culture of conservation” where farmers consciously practice conservation of natural resources such as land, water, and protecting the atmosphere, prudence in the utilization of seeds, fertilizers, in the milling and distribution of rice—and all Filipino households in the cooking and consumption of rice.

On Sunday, Nov. 20, FU will stage various events aimed at increasing public awareness of its advocacy of rice conservation, and celebrating Rice Month.

Foremost of this is the Dumaguete Adventure Marathon, a full 42.195 km.-run, traversing 15 barangays in the municipalities of Sibulan and Valencia and the city of Dumaguete. It will be the first ever full-marathon held in Negros Oriental, and where participants of the quarter marathon (10.5K), half (21K), and full marathons will use electronic timing chips so the organizers can monitor and process their walking/running performances.

The DAM is FU’s annual “gift” to the gentle people of Dumaguete City as they celebrate their Charter Day. Everyone at FU, including the President Dr. Mira D. Sinco and the faculty/staff, and students will participate in this event, an occasion manifesting community unity and affection for the City that has since hosted the academic institution founded by the eminent statesman Dr. Vicente G. Sinco for the last 62 years.

A cooking competition with contestants from the municipalities and cities of Negros Oriental will also be held for the fifth time. They pit their skills against each other in preparing rice-based dishes. There will also be the usual puso-making contest, won last year by an elderly. These features of the Rice Month celebration aims to preserve Filipino rice cooking culture and tradition.

The significance of November as the National Rice Month doesn’t seem to attract the attention of the Filipino people. The leading government and private institutions like the Department of Agriculture, PhilRice, Asia Rice Foundation, UP Los Banos, NFA do not seem to be doing anything to celebrate the spirit of Proclamation No. 524.

This is sad, if not tragic, because the UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that by the year 2050, the world is in danger of experiencing severe hunger.

FU’s campaign of creating a culture of conservation in the minds and hearts of everyone needs to be supported.

By Dr. Aparicio Mequi