2011 Updates

Hurley

Kudos to Hurley Salig (Multitudes ’79) who has been elected as president of the alumni association in the University of the Philippines College of Forestry and Natural Resources 0n September 6, 2011. Hurley obtained his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Forestry from UP Los Baños. He is currently the officer-in-charge of the CALABARZON Regional office of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines.

Rusty receiving the certificate for the training course on Sustainable Environmental Management

Congratulations to Rusty Abanto (BUTA ’91) who has just finished a certificate training course on Sustainable Environmental Management held at the University of California, Berkeley. The three-week summer course, which was held on June 24 to July 16, 2011 and offered through the Beahrs Environmental Leadership Program (ELP) by UC Berkeley, aims to provide “a unique learning opportunity for mid-career practitioners and decision-makers to broaden their knowledge and perspectives on environmental and natural resource science, policy, management, and leadership.”

Rusty is an Assistant Professor at Camarines Norte State College in the Philippines.

Twenty-two members of the UP Varrons were among the 1,713 graduates who joined the 39th Commencement Exercises of the University of the Philippines Los Baños held at the DL Umali Freedom Park on April 26, 2011. Topping the Varrons graduates are Amalia Esclanda-Almazol (Agila ’92), Roselyn Furoc-Paelmo (Honorary Member ’93), Moreno “More” Santander Jr (Batch ’93), and Precious Annie Lopez (H2O ’06). Amalia received her doctorate degrees in botany; she is an assistant professor in Southern Luzon State University. Roselyn received her doctorate degree in forestrry; she is a university research associate at the Institute of Agroforestry, UP Los Baños. More received his master’s degree in forestry; he is a public assistance coordinator at the Forest Products Research and Development Institute.

Precious Annie received her bachelor’s degree in forestry and is the recipient of the Society of Filipino Foresters Leadership Award. Adelfa Mae Guico (Geese ’10) obtained her bachelor’s degree in agriculture and Janis Ian Samiano (Dynamic Duo ’04) finished with a degree in development communications. Jason Belen (Philanthropist ’05), Mary Joy Buitre (Star Gazers ’08), Tony Rose Consignado (Magnifique Sechs ’07), Roy Alvin Escultor (Unlimited ’05), John Leo Holongbayan (Unlimited ’05), Virna Langit (H2O ’06), Milagrosa Pasion (JAM ’07), Roven Tumaneng (Unlimited ’05), and Albert Ulac (Unlimited ’05) got their bachelor’s degrees in forestry. Julie Ann Aloria (NIPS ’10), Jeannette Avellano (NIPS ’10), Marie Vel Gaerlan (Nacl ’08), Divina Gomez (NIPS ’10), Shervin Pascual (NIPS ’10), Rudolph Revilla (Spring ’09), and Mary Ruth Salazar (Spring ’09) obtained their certificates in forestry.

Our congratulations to all!

	Amalia	More	Annie
Julie Ann	Jeannette	Jason	Mary Joy	Tony Rose
Roy Alvin	John Leo	Marie Vel	Adelfa Mae	Divina
Virna	Shervin	Mila	Rudolph	Mary Ruth
	Janis	Roven	Albert

Joey Soniega: Dream, Believe, Aspire, Strive

On April 1, 2011, Joey Soniega (Augustinians ’90) was the honored guest speaker in the 100th Commencement Exercise of Bay Elementary School, where he is an alumnus. In keeping with the graduation theme “Kaagapay Tungo sa Pagbabago sa Anyo ng Lipunan, Tugon sa Hamon ng Sambayanan,” his message to the 220 young graduates can be summed up in four words: Dream, Believe, Aspire, Strive. To make a difference in the world, Joey emphasized to the graduates “. . . to dream the dream you want to dream within your means; to believe in yourself; to aspire to reach your goal and light your own fire – aspirations do come from nobody, nobody but you; and to strive to survive against all odds . . .”

Joey obtained his BS Agriculture degree from the University of the Philippines Los Banos. He was with the Philippine Coconut Authority in Guinobatan, Albay, Philippines for several years before taking the position as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Sciences at Bicol University.

Aida Lapis receiving the award from Los Banos officials

As part of the  celebration of National Month for Women, the municipality of Los Baños in the Philippines has recognized the scientific contribution made by Aida “Aids” Baja-Lapis (Dirty Dozen ’67) in the field of forestry and environmental protection by awarding her the “Natatanging Kababaihan sa Larangan ng Pangangalaga ng Kapaligiran” on March 28, 2011. The celebration carries the theme “Magna Carta of Women, Philippine CEDAW in support of the Millenium Development Goals.” The award was given by Mr. Anthony Genuino, the mayor of Los Baños. Aids is a Supervising Science Research Specialist in the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau, one of the research arms of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in the Philippines. Cheers and congratulations!!!