80-year-old gets award for poems on nature

[LQT]

80-year-old gets award for poems on nature

By Jocelyn Uy
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 02:48:00 04/21/2008

MANILA, Philippines—This gangly professor has an arsenal of frank,
simple Filipino words he uses to create drama and poems aimed at
inspiring people to save Mother Earth.

"My works cannot save the environment per se but they can help [in
educating] the public more effectively, especially when you
communicate to them in their native tongue," Prof. Tomas Ongoco,
president of the Quezon City Academy, told the Philippine Daily
Inquirer in an interview on Friday.

For using his gift with words and poetry for environmental exploits,
the octogenarian eco-hero was named one of the six recipients of the
Fr. Neri Satur Award for Environmental Heroism by the EarthSavers
Movement.

"Duly recognizing those following the path of public service of Father
Satur will strengthen the movement of caring for Mother Earth and
encourage the commitment of the youth to the stories of courage and
commitment to be emulated in their own sphere of work," said
EarthSavers founder Heherson Alvarez in a letter to the Inquirer
newspaper (parent company of INQUIRER.net).

Alvarez, a former environment secretary and senator, instituted the
award seven years ago in honor of the clergyman who was martyred in
1991 for protecting the forests of Bukidnon province.

Ongoco Sunday received his award in simple rites after an ecology Mass
televised over government station NBN Channel 4 in time for Earth Day,
which will be observed worldwide on Tuesday.

He was recognized for writing a book, "Ambon sa Tagtuyot" an anthology
of drama and verses popularizing scientific data.

Running the gamut of environmental issues, the book also tackles the
ills of smoking and even the use of plastic straws for drinking.

"Essays are no longer appealing to the youth of today. They seldom go
to the library anymore," Ongoco said, explaining why he has devoted
himself to a more creative way of educating the public about the
environment.

Gore documentary

Aside from writing a "Balagtasan on Climate Change," he translated
into Filipino former US Vice President Al Gore's "An Inconvenient
Truth," the Oscar-winning documentary on global warming.

"Tingnan mo nga iyang ilog na mabining dumadaloy. Mga dahong
kumukunday sa kahalikan nitong hangin ... (You look at the river,
gently flowing by. You notice the wind rustling the leaves ...)" reads
Ongoco's version of the first few lines of the film.

In this way, more Filipinos would be able to relate to the issues
presented in the documentary, he said. He gave it a Filipino title,
"Isang Hindi Matanggap na Katotohanan."

The Filipino adaptation is composed of 20 pages, which he worked on
fitfully for 12 days last month.

Blue skies

His memory shows episodes of lapses – which he prefers to call
"intellectual rest" – but the environmental educator can still clearly
remember how his caring for nature started.

He recalled that while his friends were busy wooing his beautiful
cousin, he would lie in a small banca (boat) in the river in his
Bataan hometown and gaze up at the blue skies and white puffy clouds.

Watching the clouds take various shapes and "producing meaning out of
them" was like "reading Mother Nature's novel," he says.

Arbor Day

Since then, he resolved to become a writer while finding himself
actively involved in environmental activities in school, such as
gardening. Arbor Day was a special event for him as a young student,
Ongoco said.

A language elementary and high school teacher from 1952 to 1964, he
had an early tweaking of his vocabulary when he learned to read before
he entered school. At age 5, he was already reading Jose Rizal's "Noli
Me Tangere" and "El Filibusterismo" – which somehow explained his
penchant for Filipino literary classics.

He delivered his very first speech about planting trees when he was in
Grade 1 on Arbor Day.

Aside from creating pieces on the environment, the professor
translated into modern Filipino the two famous novels and other
literary works, such as "Florante at Laura" and "Ibong Adarna," for
students' use.

As for his book, "Ambon sa Tagtuyot," it was so titled "because it
came during my drought years," Ongoco said with a chortle.

With the encouragement of Cecile Guidote-Alvarez, executive director
of the National Commission on Culture and Arts, he started writing the
bulk of the poems in 2004. Two years later, the book was published.
But some of the ideas for his poems, which mostly contained scientific
information, dated back to 1996, he said.

In his poem "Panipsip na Straw at Angat na Pamumuhay," he presented
the disadvantages of using plastic straws with humor. He wrote: "Iba
na ang may class, o may sinasabi. Kelangan mo'y straw, di inom sa bote
[It's different to have class. You need a straw so as not to drink
from the bottle.]"

"Ngunit alam mo ba kung straw ay ano? Sa kaligira'y anong bisa
nito? ... Iya'y yaring plastic, hindi nabubulok, sa lupa't tubigan,
iya'y isang salot [But do you know what a straw is? And its effect on
the surroundings? It's made of plastic, which doesn't degrade. It's a
plague in land and in water.]"

Quit smoking

While elaborating the drawbacks of smoking to health and environment,
Ongoco explained the benefits of quitting the vice in his poem
"Paninigarilyo."

He motivated his readers to join the crusade for environmental
protection in his five-stanza piece "Iligtas ang Mundo [Save the
Planet]."

"Iligtas ang mundo, sama-sama tayo. Pag mundo'y dumilim, laging takip-
silim. Sisihi'y kayo sa dusa ng mundo," a line from the poem went.

"I am no scientist but I expanded my knowledge in the subject through
reading," said Ongoco, who for a time served as acting director of the
Science Foundation of the Philippines of the Department of Science and
Technology. His stint at the DoST also sharpened his understanding of
the problems facing the environment, he said.