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Remembering World-Class Rural Sociologist: Gelia Tagumpay (Nanay) Castillo (1928-2017)

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By: Bob Boyer

 

I have been reading some of the very moving accounts of one of the truly noteworthy heroes of the Philippines, Gelia Castillo: University Professor, National Academician (1983), National Scientist (1999), Consultant (in residence) at the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).” Many would add the designation, Champion of the People, especially two groups, farmers and the rural poor, two groups that have all too frequently overlapped. Since I was privileged to know her as a friend (and my wife and I as ninongs to granddaughter Erin), I refer to her here as Gelia. And since this column offers a non-Filipino perspective, I will refrain from quoting from the many Filipino accounts of her accomplishments. I offer my non-Filipino perspective of this Philippine hero whom I have known and admired for over 25 years.

When I wrote Sundays in Manila (2010) about my experiences in the Philippines over the years, I devoted one chapter to two of my most memorable Filipinos. One was the war hero, Lieutenant Colonel Joe Rogers (Air Force); the other hero was University Professor Gelia Castillo. “What links Gelia Castillo and Joe Rogers in my mind is the way they both responded to the war years. Grace under extreme pressure is a cliché that acquires new life in reference to them. They more than endured the invasion, occupation, and liberation; they acquired a heightened sense of purpose. After the war, they pursued successful careers, careers that contributed greatly to their society. In their later years they both wore their accomplishments with a quiet dignity and a sense of humor.” (All quotations from Sundays in Manila, Chapter 7)

Joe had died by the time the book appeared; Gelia continued her accomplishments, in fact well into retirement years. She continued actively “as a sociologist specializing in how people respond to living in an agricultural society. Almost hidden away on a wall of the spacious dining area, which doubles as a library, in the Castillo home in Los Banos, is a framed newspaper article that refers to Gelia as ‘a world-class rural sociologist.’ She focuses on the conditions of the rural poor, especially the struggling farmers. . . . She still retains an office in the IRRI complex.”

I visited the Castillo home in Los Banos on two or three memorable occasions. On one of these I attended Mass with Gelia at St. Teresa’s Catholic Church. We took a short-cut across an open space between the parking area and the church. We were walking slowly in the Saturday afternoon heat “when Gelia gestured to a small stone structure a few yards to our right. I had barely noticed it, vaguely dismissing it as a soon-to-be- forgotten remnant of a larger structure. ‘That was the church when the Japanese came. They filled it with people and burned it to the ground with the people inside. We will always keep it just as it is. . . .’ I was rooted to the ground, while Gelia kept on slowly walking. We said nothing further when I caught up to her. Her stoicism belied pity but insisted on awareness and remembrance of the past.”

I believe it was the day after we went to Mass at St. Teresa’s that Gelia gave me a tour of the area. Meals at her house were always an event, even breakfast. We started the day with “plantains, juicy mangoes, rice, eggs, pork, and toast.” Gelia wrapped a couple of bottles of water in a cold towel and we set off with a driver to visit her hometown of Pagsanjan, north of Los Banos along the shore of Laguna Lake. I enjoyed the town and country scenery that day but confess that I was more attentive to Gelia’s stories, which she narrated wonderfully. Gelia spoke of the agricultural history, lamenting that as a child she used to pick and eat a piece of sugar cane nearly anywhere she went but now “we actually have to import it.” As we passed through Santa Cruz, the provincial capital, Gelia dryly commented on how the heavy concrete of the American colonial architecture of her high school contrasted with the open, airy new additions.

On our return from Pagsanjan, Gelia “reminisced about how she and her sisters took a horse and buggy to school every day from her village to Laguna High School in Santa Cruz. It was a two-hour ride, so they left early in the morning and took their lunches, wrapped in banana leaves with them. ‘The banana leaves kept the food fresh and served as a plate at lunch time.’”

I have written previously about Gelia in my series of “Strong Filipino Women.” We will miss Gelia, but her legacy remains, in her books, her articles, and her daughters Nina and Gerty.

Contact Bob Boyer at Robert.boyer@snc.edu or (www.anamericaninmanila. com>.

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