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Live Naturally - Key to Good Health and Longer Life

April 19, 2014, 6:56 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid  with Ms Melly C Tenorio 
738KHzAM 8-9 evening class Mon to Fri
Lesson March 7, 2012

Get more sunlight. Spend more time outdoor, and in the countryside.

Get enough rest. Pets make a happy company. Alternative
medicine recommends natural healing through pet therapy.

Banana is among the most nutritious foods; it is packed
with minerals and vitamins. It is the most popular fruit
in the world and comes in many varieties, which are
prepared in a dozen-and-one recipes.
Have interesting and creative hobbies - key to successful
growing up and happy living.


There is a growing trend today all over the world - people are getting close to nature.

Natural food, natural surroundings, natural clothing and many personal belongings. So with natural designs of equipment and tools becoming ergonomically fit, naturalness in expression and methodologies, say in teaching, natural motifs of entertainments and sports like camping and nature trekking. Humanities and the arts are leaning back to realism and naturalism, moving away from extreme abstract forms. 

It seems that people are happier the less they have synthetic and artificial things around them. They are more comfortable with things that assure their well-being. 
  • Aspartame, Monosodium glutamate or MSG, Salitre, bromates, sulfites, high salt, food dyes, leaveners, flavors and condiments - which are products of the modern laboratory, no longer find a welcome place in the kitchen and on the dining table.
  • Cotton, abaca, ramie, maguey fibers are back. Use leather shoes and you get rid of allergy. So with rayon undies. Biodegradable plastics and paper bags are replacing conventional plastics and styropore, their use are now a must in many establishments.
  • Virgin coconut oil has replaced millions of dollars worth of commercial cosmetic products. More and more herbal substitutes are coming out.
  • Diet food has taken another path - eat organically grown vegetables and fruits. Move over multi-vitamins - you can get more from natural sources, minerals and vitamins from plants.

  • More and more people go for alternative medicine and environmental medicine, rather than clinical and hospital medicine, except for serious medical ailments.
  • People want to be sure the food they take is free of toxic metals - mercury, lead, cadmium. They go for organically grown food even if they pay for the premium.
  • They ask if the milk they buy contains melamine, or human hormones; corn flakes from Genetically Modified corn (Btcorn carries genes of a soil bacterium), other genetically modified crops and animals, now notoriously dubbed by the media as Frankenfood - after Frankenstein, the maker of a monsters that turned enemy against his creator and the world, written by Mary Shelley two hundred years ago.
The ghost of Frankenstein monster haunts the world today more than it did before. It makes us aware that we could be the next victim. Our best defense is, let's live naturally. So, instead of using chemicals, we use natural materials. Instead of relying on packaged commercial products, we make our own at home.

In Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (school-on-air), my co-host Ms Melly Tenorio would always caution me to translate our lessons to the level of understanding at the grassroots. Melly and I use as barometer the practicability of the lessons, relating them to everyday experiences, and sharing with members of the family and immediate community. Here are some activities we prepared for this topic, Living Naturally - the same lesson we aired recently on 738 KHz AM DZRB and [www.pbs.gov.ph].

A. Disinfectant, Deodorizers, Cleaners

1. Instead of disinfectant, use borax (1 cup to 1 gal of warm water) or grapefruit seed extract (10%)

2. Instead of fabric softener, use ¼ cup of vinegar added to the rinse water.

3. Instead of furniture polish, use olive oil with 1 tbsp vinegar poured in 1 liter of warm water. Keep in spray bottle.

4. Instead of glass cleaner, use ½ cup vinegar mixed with 1 gal warm water, place in spray bottle.

5. Borax instead of laundry whitener; Baking powder on sponge instead of scouring powder;

6. Hydrogen peroxide as stain remover; borax + vinegar as toilet bowl cleaner.

7. Instead of Naphthalene balls, pound a bungle of tanglad or citronella, as deodorizer and pest repellant.

8. Instead of commercial deodorizers, keep chunks or powdered charcoal in refrigerators amd inside newly painted rooms.

9. Wipe natural vinegar along paths of ants, or where they frequent, instead of applying chemical spray.

10. Whole black pepper in cloth sachet will repel silverfish, mites, ants and cockroaches in closets, book cabinets and inside the piano. Don't use naphthalene or any chemical insecticide,

B. Sick Building Syndrome (Things to be done)

1. Add or widen windows for better and natural ventilation.

2. Install proper air-con and exhaust fans corresponding to space, number people, and nature of work.

3. Avoid blocking the air supply and return vents. Clean them regularly.

4. Clean up water spills and damp places to get rid of molds. Expose under sunlight if possible.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant.

4. Store food properly; don't eat anything you are not sure of its freshness and quality.

5. Empty the garbage daily. Clean the bins well. Use plastic bag or lining in the bin. It's cleaner and more convenient to dispose your garbage this way.

6. Observe symptoms from gas fumes and foul air as may be experienced by workers,  occupants, and visitors. Check equipment and supplies – they may be the source of irritating odor and fumes.

7. Strictly no smoking allowed. inside and within vicinity. Smoking is a common cause of fire.

8. Divide area into independent units – office, manufacturing, kitchen or storeroom.

9. Report problems to concerned persons/authorities. A leaky faucet may cause flooding, as a leaky gas tank may be the source of fire.

10. Check the surrounding for stagnant water, weedy corners, worn out water pipes, clogged drainage, pile of unwanted materials. Have general repair and cleaning.

Continue listing down other ways by which you can live naturally - and enjoy a happy, healthy and long life. ~
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10 Verses: A Touch of Healing

April 19, 2014, 7:17 am
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Dr. Abe V. Rotor

 Children flying kites on the beach 

1. Archetypes feed the memory
As the past is here to stay.
We see the child of yesterday
Through a window today.

2. A vessel holds water to the brim,
Unless it bears a crack at its rim;
As men wish power in their dream
Even if they have lost their steam.

3. Ah, Homer’s epic is true after all,
And Shakespeare recreated an empire;
If Swift made man either short or tall,
Balagtas tamed a lion on fire.

4. And miles to go before I sleep,
But the lanes are closed to the traffic;
I’d rather, into a trance, slip
Or return to a deep, deep sleep.

5. All you give your cow and sheep
Is a spacious meadow,
Away from your watch and shadow;
Content are they, so with your sleep.

6. A tenth of our brain is all we use
In a lifetime – the rest we save;
Yet spurs us to reach the stars,
Or drives us fast to our grave.

7. As we undervalue ourselves,
So do others undervalue us.
Lo, to us little brothers,
clinging to our past. 

8. Ask Ceres or the mightiest God of all -
If Nature keeps herself better if we depart.
With her housekeeping and her art -
Was Paradise redeemed after the Fall?

9. Being poor is a butt of joke often.
Says the fiddler when a poor man eats chicken,
Either he is sick or he lost in the cockpit.


10. Beauty builds upon beauty,
Ad infinitum to eternity.
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Transforms - Educational tools and decors

April 19, 2014, 6:03 pm
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Museum of Natural History, UPLB 
Mt Makiling, Laguna 
Dr Abe V Rotor
 Replica of whale attracts teachers on field trip.  On the left is a painting of the blue whale
 Giant outline of a damsel fly and a butterfly

 Scorpion on the wall; wooden exoskeleton of insect.
 Modern sculptural representation of an insect's exoskeleton 

Fairy tale mushroom; anatomy of a tree

 Sowbug, a relative of the insect - a terrestrial crustacean
A representation of a "new" species of  lizard.
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UST GS: The Garden - Living World in Microcosm

April 19, 2014, 6:21 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor

Nature keeps a dynamic order where unity resides in diversity. We will never understand this mysterious order. Perhaps it is better not to probe it at all - for it is our deep faith in the Maker of that garden that we earn our place there to live in harmony with all creatures.


A view of the UST main building from the botanical garden
framed by a deciduous narra tree and climbing Phylodendron.


Century old dita (Alstonia scholaris) dominates the UST Botanical
Garden. It towers over the surrounding buidings on the campus.



“To see a world in a grain of sand,
And heaven in a wild flower;
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.”


- William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

This verse captures the essence of the title of this article. It condenses the universe into its elemental symbols from which we take a full view of the world we live in. It reduces the complexities and vastness of both non- living and the living world into a microcosm that is complete in itself- a plantilla of creation all contained in the hand and experienced within a lifetime.

Lucky is the person who realizes this singular gift. Through this microcosm he can traverse the breadth of time and space, live with the myriad of life forms, and most important, he is blessed by the Great Maker to be part of the wonders and mysteries of creation.

So deep is the faith of the poet, William Blake, who wrote this verse more than two hundred years ago. Then, there were no computers, no television, no spacecraft and satellites. Could it be that in the absence of these modern tools that the mind could penetrate deeper, imagination soar higher, and faith stronger?


A fine arts student finds solace and subject at the UST Botanical Garden.


A. Garden as a Microcosm

The garden could have been the place where Newton formulated the laws of gravity and magnetism when an apple fell on his head, where Darwin developed his theory of evolution through natural selection, where Henry Fabre discovered organization intelligence among insects over and above mere instinctive behavior. It was in a garden where Claude Monet painted his masterpieces, capturing the essence of the natural beauty of wild flowers, such as the Nymphaea and the lotus.

We may not expect inventions and discoveries, and master’s arts, to creep into the mind of whoever spends time in a garden, or any similar microcosm of nature for that matter. But we are most certain that he finds enlightenment through the knowledge and experience he gains, and with these he develops in himself the discipline to discover new things, and to acquire values that help him live at peace with nature and himself. It is in keeping close to nature that we better understand the ways of the world in which we live.

When I conducted a lecture- demonstration at the UST Botanical Garden before my students, I was in effect simulating the scenario. Here I showed them the different parts of the Garden, starting with the basics such as, “ What makes a Garden?” I explained the composition of a typical rainforest ecosystem. The garden is precisely a pocket representation of this ecosystem, and, by dissecting it, we were in effect looking at its profile.


B. Deciduous Nature of Trees in Tropical Rainforest


Deciduous umbrella tree or talisay (Terminalia catappa) displays the color of autumn.

I gathered my students under a narra tree- Pterocarpus indicus. Trees belonging to the Dipterocrap group of family Legumonosae dominate the canopy of the tropical rainforest. Their leaves fall off completely at certain season so that the trees are bare for some time, thus allowing sunlight to penetrate and nourish the understory trees, ground plants, lianas and epiphytes.

The floor becomes covered with litter that nourishes insect, earthworms, fungi and bacteria. These decompose the leaves into humus that ultimately becomes soil while supplying nutrients to different plants in the forest. Because of the high precipitation throughout the year, the forest becomes lush and dense. The multi- story nature of the tropical rainforest makes it the richest biome in both diversity of species and number of inhabitants.


C. Gymnosperms and Angiosperms

These are cone-bearing and lowering plants, respectively. Gymnosperms are exemplified by pine cypress, and arios. I allowed my student to touch and examine these plants. Then they turned to examine the angiosperms that predominate the campus. Phylogeny shows that flowering plants are more “ modern “, which means that through evolution, the gymnosperms are older, and later gave way to the evolving angiosperms. Except in colder countries and in the taiga biome, the natural vegetation of forests is composed of flowering plants. The pine, cypress and cycad are the most common representatives of the cone-bearing plants in tropical gardens.

The oldest living organisms belong to gymnosperm - the Redwoods of California. And the Bristle Cone which is believed to be even older. Many of these trees were already bearing cones during the time of Christ. I have seen one in central Taiwan, estimated to have been two thousand years old, before it was struck by lightning. It still attracts many tourists who wonder at its massive size. One would associate it with legend or cartoon if he hadn't gone to the place. massive it is even after death. It takes


D. False flowers

Nature’s sweet lies have a purpose. The brightly colored leaves of poinsettia and bougainvillea attract insect pollinators and enhance fertilization and subsequent fruit and setting and seed formation, thus ensuring the perpetuation species how many plants are benefited by this special make-up.

The truth is that most flowering plant has designed attraction mechanisms. In general, flowers are made attractive, although the attraction that we know may not be the same as how insects perceive it. We know red as red, yellow as yellow, and so forth. But insect have different perception of colors. Nonetheless, the basic purpose is what counts - and is almost always achieved. Other means that guarantee pollination-fertilization are sometimes needed. For example insect are attracted by the obnoxious odor of Lantana camara, pollinating it in effect.


Pongapong flower is pollinated by flies

This is also in the cases of pongapong (Amorphophallus campanolatus), kalumpang or bangar tree - and, of course, the Rafflesia, the world largest flower that emits putrefying odor. They have one thing in common: they attract flies to pollinate their flowers.


E. Flowering Bamboo- Prophet of Doom

The old folks used to tell us, “Beware when the bamboo flowers.”

What is the connection of a flowering bamboo to a force majeure, such as drought? Old folks use it as a barometer of El Niño. Climatologists around the globe predict the coming of this phenomenon by observing plants, among them the flowering of bamboos. The cycle is ten years or closer. El Niño is accompanied by poor harvest, forest fires, death of livestock, spread of certain diseases that effect man, animals and plants.

Biologically, organisms subjected to stress tend to reach the reproductive stage earlier than usual. In fact, certain insects even skip molting just to be able to metamorphose into an adult and carry out reproduction while the environment allows. It is nature’s way of insuring the perpetuation of the species at the expense of the organism, so to speak.

So, when a bamboo flowers it ultimately dies. This is why the panda, which derives its food mainly on bamboo suffers. There are bamboo species that flower after fifty years or so, then die.

There are other plants that signal the coming of drought. One is kapok. A fruit-laden kapok tree means poor against harvest ahead. Even the sturdy kamagong or mabolo is stressed by drought. While it stops producing new leaves, the crown remains intact. This could be the reason why this tree produces the hardest wood. In the case of the narra, and mango, they show no apparent stress signal. It is because they have sturdy, long taproots that penetrate deep into the ground and into the bedrock. Old folks, however, warn us that no plant is spared from the worst kind of drought.


E. Trees are Sound and Wind Barriers

Have you noticed how the sound of traffic dies down in the dense vegetation of trees? Loud voice is muffled, blarring sound reduced to tolerable decibels, and music is more soothing to the ear. The trees at UST and in the Sunken Garden of UP Diliman are definitely for this purpose, in addition to being buffers against strong wind.
Windbreaks help reduce wind pressure. I saw a 10- row windbreak of different species of trees along the highway to the Beijing airport. Another windbreak made of agoho (Casuarina equisitifolia) is found along the coastline of Kaohsiung in Southern Taiwan which similarly serves to buffer winter wind. Woodland hedges along field boundaries in Europe serve the same purpose. The Indian tree is an effective sound breaker because of its thick, cone- shaped crown. It has also another advantage, that is, it grows tall and straight so that several trees can be planted close to each other.These man-made forests are a source of many valuable products and serve as a natural habitat of wildlife. It is no wonder why the Hanging Garden of Babylon was one of the wonders of the ancient World.


F. Hantik Ants - Biological Control Agents


Nest of hantik ants (Oecephalla smaragdina)

My students studied the nests of the giant green tree ants or hantik. The older nests were built on the upper branches of alagao, while a newly built nest was on a smaller tree Ficus pseudopalma. It is not easy to trace which nest an individual ant belongs to, but each colony has a specific chemical signal called pheromone. This prevents members from fighting, and allows the colonies to co-exist with defined territories assigned to each colony. Scientist calls this territory as niche.

Hantik ants are notorious killers of other insects. This could be the reason I have not seen any need to spray chemicals. Hantik ants feed on grubs, caterpillars, aphids, scale insects, and many others. They carry off morsels to their nest to feed their larvae. They scare organisms several times bigger than themselves. In fact, one who happens to get close to their domain is likely to get a bite or two, which is warning enough. But they do not hesitate to attack once they are threatened or disturbed.

I demonstrated the ferocity of the hantik by crushing a member of that colony. Sooner than I expected other members came to the rescue and pheromone was immediately put to use in the coordination and division of work, and in the strategy of war.


G. Common Medicinal Plants

A botanical garden is not complete without a good collection of medicinal plants. Here I showed to my students examples of medicinal plants with their uses. UST Botanical Garden was once the pharmaceutical garden of the university founded by Fr. Rodriguez a century ago. It is one of the oldest phamaceotical gardens in the world.

Here are typical examples of medicinal plants found in backyard and home gardens.

1. Lagundi - fever and flu
2. Pandakaki- minor wound or cuts
3. Oregano - sore throat and cough
4. Ikmo - mouth wash
5. Mountain tea - health drink
6. Guava - body odor and skin diseases
7. Pandan - beverage and food additive
8. Alagao - fever and cold
9. Avocado - diarrhea
10. Banana - kidney ailment


H. Poisonous Plants

I showed my students poisonous plants growing in the garden. But why do we have poisonous plants around?

There are plants which produce poisonous substances that are valuable as pesticide. Examples are neem tree, derris and makabuhay. These have been proved to be effective in controlling certain pests and disease of plants.

Botanical pesticides are generally safer than chemical pesticides. Studies have shown that neem (Azideracta asiatica), a native of India, has long been used as insecticide. It is widely used on field crops and against domestic pest like cockroaches, mosquitoes and bedbugs in many countries including the Philippines.

Makabuhay (Tinospora rhumpiana) is effective against a wide range of rice pests and the application is very simple. Fresh stems and leaves are finely chopped and directly broadcast in lowland ricefields. The active principle is also very effective on golden kohol, a major pest of rice of the Philippines.

Derris is the source of commercial rotenone insecticide. The concentration of its poison is in its enlarged roots.

Two poisonous plants grow in the garden. In fact they grow wild and have been persistent for a number of years now. Castor bean contains a poisonous substance - ricinin - for which reason castor oil is no longer prescribed as laxative. The other plant is Jatorpha curcas or tubang bakod. A few years ago a group of students from a Quezon City High School ate the seeds which taste like peanut. They were taken to the hospital for treatment.


Bangbangsit (Lantana camara) , insect repellant
------------------------------------A garden harbors the inquisitive mind, the seeking heart, the longing spirit. It is a place of peace and quiet. Here the seasons of the year are best observed. As an miniature ecosystem it defines basic relationships between and among living things, including man. Never is a garden idle, nothing is waste, and time is never prodding yet never dull.
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I. Conclusion

The microcosm is far from complete. But it is the framework that is important, like building replica of a dinosaur from pieces of recovered fossil. Knowledge is like that. It starts with principles, but, before that, one must be inspired and motivated to learn. There is no true learning unless one labors for it to some degree. Even frustration that may threaten learning itself, could be, at the end, a motivating factor, a challenge and test of what one is really made of. The Great Maker just gave us the Plantilla from which we follow the way to learning and understanding. ~


Bust of the founder of the former UST Pharmacy Garden, Fr. Rodriguez.

Symbols of the UST Pharmacy Garden. Both
monuments grace the garden's central area.
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UST GS Entomology Field Lecture

April 20, 2014, 8:31 am
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UST Botanical Garden  
Dr Abe V Rotor
 UST Graduate Students in Entomology, Summer 2014, with Dr Abe V Rotor   
 Pod of botong (Barringtona asiatica) has a single seed that contains pesticidal properties. 
 Spent flower of botong and old leaves on the ground; growing habit of the tree.   

Studying a local fern (Pteris sp) 

  Balete (Ficus benjamina); marker of the UST Botanical Garden 
 Kamagong (Diospyros discolor); fruit attacked by fruit fly (Dacus dorsalis), and fruit bat. 
Assignment: List down the topics we discussed in the field lecture.  Emphasize the aspects relating to entomology. Handwritten on regular bond.  
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Personal Reflection of an Unknown Citizen

April 21, 2014, 6:48 pm
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Personal Reflection of an Unknown Citizen
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Welcome to this Blog! This is our 2,900 posts with a running total of almost 800,000 pageviews todate.


Assignment in Communication Arts, Faculty of Arts and Letters, UST) Make your own personal reflection on a regular bond, in any style, 500 words more or less. Reflection brings out the inner person in you, like the inner eye of Heller Keller, the Little Prince of Antoine de Saint-Exupery', idealism of Longfellow and Alexander Pope, meditation in Michalangelo's Pieta, the mysticism of Venus de Milo, enigma of wildlife in Rosseau's painting, inner ear of Beethoven, waning light in Claude Monet's Waterlily Pond. 

I invite our viewers to this exercise. You may find this useful in retreats and seminars, specially in leadership, and in the fields of theology,  philosophy, and humanities.


Jose Rizal

One man fought a nation, and save a nation, abhorring violence.
His greatest weapon: peaceful protest and civil disobedience
in asceticism that swept the land;
people revering him as father and almost god.
His name is Gandhi.

His likes are the greatest specimens of mankind; they too, changed
the world forever, making it a better place to live in.
His name is Mao Tse Tung.
His name is Ho Chi Minh.
His name is Jose Rizal.
His name is Ramon Magsaysay
Her name is Princess Diana.
His name is Jose Burgos.
He is Maximilian Kolby
Nelson Mandela 

She is Mother Teresa.
He is Nelson Mandela
He is Pope John Paul II, et al

They are people for all seasons, for all ages, for all waves of change.

But little do we know of the unknown great man,
The Unknown Soldier -
unknown doctor, unknown teacher
farmer, worker, entrepreneur,
old man, father, housewife, child;
The Unknowns in other fields of life, regardless.

They are whose deeds are also those of great men and women we revere today.
They are us – each one of us
in our own little way to make the world go round and around –
or make it slower, that we may taste better the true Good Life,
the sweet waters of the Pierian Spring, the cool breeze on the hill.

All of us - we have the capacity to be great.
Bringing up our children to become good citizens,
being Samaritan on a lonely road,
embracing a returning Prodigal Son, 
plugging a hole in the dike like the boy who saved Holland from the sea,
or living life the best way we can that makes other lives better.

These and countless deeds make us great,
and if in this or that little way we may fall short of it,
then each and everyone of us putting each small deed together,
makes the greatest deed ever,
for the greatest thing humans can do is collective goodness –
the key to true unity and harmony,


and peace on earth. ~
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Wanted: Kidney

April 21, 2014, 7:40 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday
He stopped schooling after finishing elementary. He was not good in school and his classmates always teased him of being lame. He was born with a club foot. So he became the house keeper while his father and mother went to work, and his brother and sister attended school.
National Kidney and Transplant Institute, QC  

“Please take good care of everything, Gido.” It was Nanay Paring’s way of saying goodbye every morning before going to work. “And don’t forget to eat and take your medicine,” Tatay Gorio would add. Pedring and Trining would ask what their youngest brother Gido would like them to bring home before boarding their owner’s jeep.

Left alone at home Gido spent hours watching television and playing computer games. He had no companion except his dog, a mongrel, curled under the sofa and yelping only when hungry. “No, Pido, we are not going to cook. We are only two anyway.” He would open a bag of potato or corn chips, or a can of cheese balls, and a family-size soft drinks, and both of them would while their time away until the whole family is reunited at dinner time.

This was the life of Gido day in and out. And who would complain? People with simple life have very little to complain about. Gido’s father and mother were industrious, they were very kind. Pedring and Trining loved him. They gave him playthings, and played with him after school and weekends.

Gido’s eyesight began to fade, so he was fitted with a special pair of eyeglasses, with a grade too high for a boy in his early teens. “Oh, it’s because of too much TV and computer games,” he told himself.

One time his mother was talking to Gido, but he seemed not to be listening. “Gido, Gido,” her mother called. Gido was going deaf. The family doctor also found out that he was losing control of some muscles and nerves. His asthma had gone worse and yet he was fast gaining weight. The doctor prescribed him medicine. “Could it be Parkinson’s disease?” The doctor muttered to himself. It is impossible for a teenager to be a victim. Then the doctor realized his patient had signs of premature aging!

Months later, Gido complained of persistent back pain and he could barely move. The color of his skin lost its pinkish color. True to the suspicion of the doctors he was diagnosed to be suffering of diseased kidneys. There is only one chance for him to live – kidney transplant!

What really caused Gido’s sad condition?

After a long investigation by a university hospital, doctors attributed the boy’s condition to the effects of improper diet and inactive lifestyle. The hospital presented Gido’s case in a forum for medical students. Gido had taken some 5,000 packs potato chips, corn chips, and the like, in a period of three years at the rate of three to four packs per day,! How about noodles? If he consumed, say at the rate of two packs daily, he had taken no less than 2000 packs during the same period. Noodles are known to contain MSG or sodium monoglutamate which doctors attribute to be the cause of poor development of the brain and muscles. How about carbonated soft drinks? At one family size bottle a day, Gido drank some 1,000 liters during the same period.

What worsened his situation was that Gido did not have enough physical exercise. Cleaning the house was not sufficient. And was not getting the much needed sunlight. He became overweight and soon he became ashamed of himself, and developed a phobia going out and meeting people. How low was his self esteem!

As a writer I met Gido at the National Kidney Institute where he had dialysis. I saw his name in the list of candidates waiting for donated kidney. The list was very long and there are few donors. He had been visiting NKI regularly with Nanay Paring or Tatay Gorio, or with his brother or sister. Sometimes the whole family was with him.

The family prayed hard every evening, instead of watching their favorite TV programs. They prayed that someone was going to donate a kidney for Gido. A month had passed and there was none.

“I’m going to donate one of my kidneys to Gido,” Pedring announced unexpectedly. The family was surprised. They sought advice from NKTC and many people. They could not decide. Then a certain Dr. Abelardo Imbag who had just completed his specialization in nephrology at John Hopkins University in the US approached the family on knowing the condition of Gido.

“If you allow me, my team and I will do the operation - for free,” he offered. Dr. Imbag grew up on the same street in Tondo where the Fuentes family lived. He had known them even when he was a little boy. He remembered how Gido’s father helped him when he was accidentally bumped by a tricycle. If it were not for Tatay Goring's help there would be no Dr. Imbag today.

The day of the operation came. Gido and Pedring were brought into the Operating Room. Dr. Imbag and his team worked for hours. Outside the family waited. Time stood still. Nobody spoke. Only the squeak of the swing door would break the silence now and then. It was a sound that would bring the family to their feet or draw their heads towards the Operating Room.

Suddenly the door swung wide open and Dr. Imbag appeared, his face wore a big, big smile. Everyone rejoiced and embraced each other. Both operations were successful.

Months passed. Gido was no longer the house keeper. His mother had retired from her work and devoted her time to the family, Mang Gorio found another job that required him to report only for half a day, and that he also had the whole weekend to spend with the family. Pedring and Trining loved their youngest brother more than before. For Gido and Pedring in particular, people called them “blood brothers” in the true sense of the word because they shared the same organ.

When Trining finished nursing he took care of Gido. He was her first and most special patient. Pedring soon went back to school and finished management, and opened a grocery store at the street corner near their residence.

Gido improved from his failing sight and hearing. There were less and less occasions of asthma attacks. After losing some kilos his friends stopped calling him “Tabachoy,” a local term for overweight. They would tell him he looked ten years younger. Gido was regarded a hero of sort in the neighborhood, especially by those of his age. With a scholarship coming from the university where he was operated on, Gido was able to continue his studies in the same university.

Because of Gido’s case, Dr. Imbag campaigned against malnutrition principally caused by excessive consumption of junk food and softdrinks. When Gido finished law and became a lawyer, he joined Dr. Imbag, and together they put up a foundation, Stop Junk Food Research and Training Center. It was dedicated to the millions of young people all over the world who are victims of this serious problem.

One afternoon while I was writing the biography of Gido I happened to pass by a young boy sitting on a bench under a tree. He looked robust and happy. He had a bottle of soft drink and a bag of potato chips. At his feet lay a dog curled asleep. I told him the story of Gido. x x x
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Are you an owl or a lark?

April 21, 2014, 8:00 pm
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Are you an owl or a lark?
Dr Abe V. Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday


Our clocks have individual variations. For example, there are people who are more active in the afternoon and evening, and there are those who are opposite – they are more active in the morning.
Chances are, you already know instinctively whether you are a morning person (sometimes known as a “lark”) or a night person ( sometimes called an “owl”).

Owl 


If you aren’t sure which one you are, here are some questions to ask yourself:
1. Do you wake up early and go to bed early?
2. Do you generally rise from your bed wide eyed and raring to go?
3. Do you feel that you do your best work early on the day?
4. Do you find yourself waking up just before you alarm is scheduled to go off?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you are most likely a morning person.

1. Do you wake up late and go to bed late?
2. Do you wake up sleepy eyed and sluggish?
3. Do you generally suffer through the early morning hours and get your surge of energy and creativeness later in the day?
4. Do you find it easy to sleep through the buzz or ring of an alarm clock?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you are most likely a night person.

Difference between Night and Day People


1. Morning People tend to have more introverted personalities, while Night People tend to be more extroverted. This is particularly true the age of forty.

2. Morning People tend to have less flexible circadian rhythms, which means they benefit more, both physically and mentally, from following structured daily routine.


Long billed lark Wikipedia

3. Morning People tend to sleep more soundly than Night People and wake up feeling more refreshed.

4. Women are more likely to be Morning People than men.

Don't worry, an owl can be as happy as a lark, and a lark as vigilant as an owl. Just follow your inner rhythm. ~

Living with Nature, AVRotor (Acknowledgment: Internet, Wikipedia, Owl  photo by Richard Stuart, lark Wikipedia)
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UST GS: Poecillia or Kataba - Nature's biological agent against mosquitoes

April 21, 2014, 8:22 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday



This fish is also called by other names like tora-tora in Marilao, and talundi in Bocaue and San Miguel. It is relative of the molly and guppy, which are favorite aquarium pets.

Kataba lives in the wild. It is abundant on the Pasig River, its tributaries up to Laguna Bay. Because it frequents polluted esteros and canals, it is also called canal fish. It is omnivorous, feeding on algae (lumot), decomposing matter, but prefers aquatic organisms. It is so voracious that it can eat nearly the equivalence of its body weight, its belly distended for which it got its name bubuntis or bubundat. It preys on kiti-kiti (mosquito wrigglers), and other aquatic insects and plankton organisms, thus serving as valuable biological agent in checking malaria and dengue which are transmitted by mosquitoes.

The late Dr. Grace M. Cruz of Bulacan State University studied the larvivorous characteristics of kataba, known as Poecillia latipinna, in a dissertation she defended for a Ph.D. degree at the UST Graduate School in 1998 and found out that six kinds of insects comprise its regular food along ther Marilao River in Bulacan. Other than mosquito wrigglers it feeds on leafhoppers (Nepothettix apicales), aphids (Aphis gossypii and A maydis), gamu-gamu or midges and red ants (Solenopsis geminata), a finding which confirms kataba is a farmer’s friend.

On the other hand, kataba is a voracious predator of other aquatic organisms, which include eggs and fry of valuable fish species, nymphs of dragonflies and damselflies which are themselves predators of kiti-kiti. There are few studies about this resilient fish and we do not even know if they are of any commercial value as human food.

Aquarium shops sell kataba to feed aruana and other predatory fish pets. Kataba is fished from rivers and lakes - and esteros, for this purpose, but the demand has greatly declined because the hobby of keeping aquarium fish is no longer popular.

One way to get rid of mosquitoes is to introduce kataba in stagnant water and waterlogged areas. It is Nature's biological agent against mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases. Kataba makes a good project in biology, particularly on the following aspects:
  • Life cycle
  • Feeding range
  • Salinity resistance
  • Pollution resistance
  • Pollution control
  • Species diversity
  • Food chain study in the ecosystem
  • Breeding experiments

Origin of Poeciliids

Poeciliids were introduced into the country from Mexico probably by “accident”. It must have been during the Galleon Trade between Acapulco and Manila. But certainly the colonizers knew of the value of this fish and it was possible that it was purposely introduced for biological control.

Today, poeciliids are found in many countries. With little encouragement, the fish multiplies very fast. Instead of laying eggs, it gives birth to numerous young viviparous. And being non-seasonal and highly adaptable, population levels are safely established in a short time.

How do we recognize the Pociliids? The fish has a barrel-shaped body, particularly in the case of the female which appears pregnant. Weight and length ratio shows that the female is more plump than the male of the same size.

The distinguishing mark of the male is the presence of gonopodium, which is the equivalent of a penis. Another is that the male’s dorsal fin is comparatively longer. The anal fin of the female originates beneath the dorsal fin, opposite the eleventh scale of the tail. The male’s anal fin, however, originates from beneath the anterior part of the dorsal fin opposite the eighth scale.

Practical Way to Clean Jars and Tanks
Makers of Basi wine (an Ilocano drink) and vinegar, use poeciliids to clean the earthen jar containerss. After harvesting the wine, the most difficult part of the job begins: cleaning the jar. It has to be washed at least three times in one-week intervals, allowing the water to stand every washing period. Its tedious work and the danger of breeding mosquitoes is inevitable.

By culturing two pairs of poeciliids in the jar, you only need to change the water once. And it takes half the time to obtain a clean, odorless jar. The secret is that the poeciliids eat the wrigglers, algae and plankton, as well as other organic materials, converting them into stable organic residues.

This is the same practice in cleaning glass aquariums, water tanks and garden ponds. Simply introduce some poecillids into the tank or pond and they will soon adjust to the new environment and in a short time reproduce and establish a stable population. It is one kind of fish you do not need aerators, re-circulating water pump, or any special gadgets. They simply thrive where other fish cannot. ~
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UST GS: Resurrection and Regeneration

April 21, 2014, 9:29 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

.
                  House lizard or butiki, emerges from hiding after shedding off its skin (molting). 

Old folks tell us of the magic of lizards growing new tails, crabs regaining lost claws, starfish arising from body pieces. How can we explain these mysteries?

The biological phenomenon behind these stories is called regeneration. The male deer grows a new set of anthers each year; sea squirts and hydras are produced from tiny buds; the same way plants grow from cuttings. New worms may regenerate from just pieces of the body; and some fish can sprout new fins to replace the ones that have been bitten off.

Experiments demonstrated that the forelimb of a salamander severed midway between the elbow and the wrist, can actually grow into a new one exactly the same as the lost parts. The stump re-forms the missing forelimb, wrist, and digits within a few months. In biology this is called redifferentiation, which means that the new tissues are capable of reproducing the actual structure and attendant function of the original tissues.

Curious the kid I was, I examined a twitching piece of tail, without any trace of its owner. I was puzzled at what I saw. My father explained how the lizard, a skink or bubuli, escaped its would-be predator by leaving its tail twitching to attract its enemy, while its tailless body stealthily went into hiding. “It will grow a new tail,” father assured me. I have also witnessed tailless house lizards (butiki) growing back their tails at various stages, feeding on insects around a ceiling lamp. During the regeneration period these house lizards were not as agile as those with normal tails, which led me to conclude how important the tail is.

Regeneration is a survival mechanism of many organisms. Even if you have successfully subdued a live crab you might end up holding only its pincers  and the canny creature has gone back in the water. This is true also to grasshoppers, they actually detach their legs in order to escape their enemies.

Another kind of regeneration is compensatory hypertrophy, a kind of temporary growth response that occurs in such organs as the liver and kidney when they are damaged. If a surgeon removes up to 70 percent of a diseased liver, the remaining liver tissues undergo rapid mitosis (multiplication of cells) until almost the original liver mass is restored. Similarly, if one kidney is removed, the other enlarges greatly to compensate for its lost partner. ~

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Mystery of the Stone Carabao

April 21, 2014, 9:33 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Figurine made of volcanic rock from Mt Pinatubo eruption. Sculptor unknown. Bacolor, Pampanga (c. 1989)

It was already dusk when my family and I decided to visit the sunken church of Bacolor, Pampanga. We had just spent the weekend in Morong, Bataan and we were on our way back to Manila.

An old woman, frail and bent in the waning light, met us at the entrance of the old church.

"Sir, bilhin na ninyo eto. Pambili lang ng pagkain." (Please sir, buy this thing to buy me some food.) She was referring to a stone figurine she was holding.

The thing was a roughly carved figure of a lying carabao, made of volcanic rock from the recent eruption of Mt Pinatubo.

"One hundred pesos lang, sir."

I pulled out a hundred peso bill from my wallet and got the figurine.

"Salamat, sir." Light shone on her wrinkled face.

We did not actually go inside the church because it was half buried with    lahar. You have to stoop low to get through the arch of the entrance. So we just stood at the entrance and Cecille, my wife, led us to pray.

There must have been pilgrims ahead of us, but the place was now deserted. It was eerie silent. So with the abandoned buried houses not far from the place. Not a stir of life. A gust of wind came, then another. I pulled my jacket close. My children did the same. Cecille cut our prayer short.

Curious, I looked for the woman. She wasn't around. Where could she had passed? There was a long stretch of footpath down the road, but there was sign of her. Not a silhouette.

I thought I was the only one who noticed her sudden departure.

"Papa, uwi na tayo," my children chorused and we drove home.

When we reached home I examined the figurine. Why it's a work of art! Did the old woman make it? Who was the old woman?

It didn't take a long time I had another chance to visit the church. This time there were people around. It wasn't yet sunset. I asked those apparently familiar with the place who the old woman was. I described her like how I saw her face when she handed me the stone carabao.

"Wala pong matandang ganong dito." (There's no such old woman here.) And they looked at each other in bewilderment.

I pondered on this puzzle if it has any message at all. Or could it a reminder of doom like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah? In this    biblical story God commanded a righteous couple to flee the wicked city, and never to look back. But pity on the dying stopped them on their track and they became into stone.

Stone figures take us even farther to Greek mythology – to Medusa who wears a headdress of snakes. Anyone who looks directly at her turns into stone. Aware of the danger the hero Perseus used his shield as mirror in slaying Medusa. And when he presented Medusa’s head to the tyrant king and his court, all of them turned into stone.


The story in the bible of course is not to be taken literally, more so with Greek mythology. But these stories usually take us to a higher level of consciousness about life and about the world we live in. What could this puzzle of the Stone Carabao mean then to us?

When I told the story to a good friend of mine who is an expert on carabao, he stood up and exclaimed, "Why, don't you know that the Philippine carabao is now a threatened species? So with other buffaloes all over the world?"

Yes, now I have a story to tell. ~

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UST GS Earth Day April 22, 2014: "All in the name of civilization" - A Reflection

April 21, 2014, 10:14 pm
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April 22,  2014: "All in the name of civilization" - A Reflection
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Home, Sweet Home with Mother Earth


“The ultimate test of any civilization
Is not in its inventions and deeds;
But the endurance of Mother Nature
In keeping up with man’s endless needs.”


- AVR, Light in the Woods.

What is civilization? Can’t civilization hear and heed the groaning of Creation?

1. It is civilization that wiped out the American Indians from the Great Plains, and plundered the Aztecs and Mayas Empires, among other cultures.
2. It is civilization that spurred the powerful West to "discover" and colonize the East for centuries.
3. It is civilization that resulted in the death of millions and the genocide of 6 million Jews in WWII.
4. It is civilization that built the atomic bomb – and dropped it on two cities of an "enemy."
5. It is civilization that made a clone animal, Dolly the Sheep, and inevitably man to be the next in the near future.
6. It is civilization that threatens the whale and the Philippine Eagle, and resulted to the extinctions of many species, and in threatening more.
7. It is civilization that is causing global warming and its untold consequences, destroying lives and properties, and the environment itself.
8. It is civilization that is causing today’s fuel crisis and food shortage, drastic inflation and loss of currency value, the recession of America and consequently the world, ad infinitum.
9. It is civilization that gave way to excesses of living, from obesity to promiscuity, license to abuse of power and wealth.
10. It is civilization that allowed growing inequities in resources distribution,
in bridging the rich and the poor.

First atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan, 2014

But it is also civilization that brought us and our society to the highest level of consciousness no known species can parallel. It is civilization that makes the Earth a beautiful place to live in.
1. It is civilization that gave us consciousness as rational beings, guiding us to live peacefully as a group and with the things around us.
2. It is civilization that created our great institutions that bind us into a society, and as one humanity.
3. It is civilization that made the greatest masterpieces in the fields of philosophy, science and the arts.
4. It is civilization that gave us the greatest religions of the world that brought us closer to our Creator.
5. It is civilization that guarantees our basic rights as individuals and a people, and as a nation -  and international community.
6. It is civilization that instills in us pride and dignity in our continuing accomplishments and discoveries.
7. It is civilization that prods us to explore the ocean and space, and the mysteries of life making use of our faculties, the greatest gift to mankind.
8. It is civilization that treasures knowledge and history in libraries, archives and multimedia, ever expanding and mysteriously revealing.
9. It is civilization that inspires us all towards achieving our dreams and searching for a meaning in life in each of us, and as a people.
10. It is civilization that gives holism to our existence as Homo sapiens (thinking man), Homo faber (man the maker), Homo jugens (playing man), and Homo spiritus (praying man).

It is civilization that makes nations great - big and small - equally proud of their culture, and contribution to the world.

It is civilization that brings us all towards universal brotherhood and globalization, shrinking the world into a friendly village.

It is civilization that makes heroes and martyrs that always prevail at the end in keeping peace and order here in our only home, The Planet Earth.~

Civilization is a precarious balance. We still ask today why we build beautiful things and destroy them. We are puzzled by the answer of the madman who destroyed the Pieta with a sledge hammer –“because I cannot own beauty.” So, if one man can’t, why should he deprive humanity?

Human Life and Environment, presented at the Capiz Archdiocesan Gathering of Priests, August 4, 2011
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San Vicente IS Series: Homecoming - "I am waiting for you, my child"

April 22, 2014, 9:32 pm
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Dr Abe V Rotor 

Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

  I am a modern day Prodigal Son. I spent fifty long years searching and searching for a place I may call my own in the whole wide world. Yes, fifty long years of my youth and in old age – twice longer the fiction character Rip van Winkle did sleep – and now I am back to the portals of my hometown, to the waiting arms of my father.


St Vncent Ferrer, Patron saint

The proverbial Lamp I still hold flickers, but it is but a beacon in embers now, for it had spent its luminance in the darkness of human weakness and failures, it beamed across the ocean of ignorance and lost hope, it trailed the path of many adventures and discoveries, and it kept vigil in the night while I slept.

And what would my father say? He meets me, embraces me, and calls everyone. “Kill the fattest calf! Let us rejoice.”

San Vicente is my home. It is the bastion of my hopes and ideals. At the far end on entering the old church is written on the altar, faded by the elements of time and rough hands of devotees, Ur-urayenka Anakko– I am waiting for you my child. When the world is being ripped by conflicts or pampered with material progress, when mankind shudders at the splitting of the atom or the breaking of the code of life, when the future is viewed with high rise edifices or clouded by greenhouse gases – my town becomes more than ever relevant to the cause for which it has stood through the centuries - the sanctuary of idealism in a troubled world, home of hundreds of professionals in many fields of human endeavor.

“Kill the fattest calf,” I hear my father shout with joy. It is celebration. It is a symbol of achievement more than I deserve. But my feeling is that I am standing on behalf of my colleagues for I am but an emissary. Out there in peace and trials, in villages and metropolises, in all endeavors and walks of life, many “Vincentians” made their marks, either recognized on the stage or remembered on stone on which their names are carved. I must say, it is an honor and privilege that I am here in humility to represent them that I may convey their unending faith and trust to our beloved hometown.

The world has changed tremendously, vastly, since I passed under the town arch to meet the world some fifty years ago. I have met wise men who asked the famous question “Quo vadis?” -where are you going? I can only give a glimpse from the eye of a teacher, far for the probing mind of Alvin Toffler in “Future Shock,” or those of Naisbitt and Aburdane, renowned modern prophets. Teachers as I know, and having been trained as one, see the world as it is lived; they make careful inferences, and take a bird’s eye view cautiously. They are conveyors of knowledge, and even with modern teaching tools and communication technology, cannot even qualify as chroniclers, nay less of forecasters. I have always strived to master the art of foretelling the future, but frankly I can only see it from atop a misty mountain. How I wish too, that I can fully witness the fruits of the seed of knowledge a teacher has sown in the mind of the young.

Limited my experience may be, allow me to speak my mind about progress and developments in the fifty years I was away from home, but on the other side of midnight, so to speak.

1. The monster that Frankenstein made lurks in nuclear stockpiles, chides with scientists tinkering with life, begging to give him a name and a home.

2. Our blue planet has an ugly shade of murk and crimson – fire consuming the forests, erosion eating out the land, polar ice shrinking, flooding the shorelines.

3. One race one nation equals globalization. How we have taken over evolution in our hands. We are playing God, is Paradise Lost II in the offing?

4. The world is wired, it travels fast on two feet – communication and transportation. The world has shrunk into but a village. Homogenization is the death sentence amid a bed of roses for mankind.

5. Man-induced phenomena are too difficult to separate from those of nature. We take the latter as an excuse of our follies, a rationalization that runs counter to be rational. Only the human species has both the capability to build or destroy – and yet we love to destroy what we build.

6. The dangerous game of numbers is a favorite game, and our spaceship is getting overloaded. Man’s needs, more so man’s want, become burgeoning load of Mother Earth, now sick and aging. Will Pied Piper ever come back and take our beloved young ones away from us, as it did in Hamlyn many years ago?

7. Conscience, conscience, where is spirituality that nourishes it. Where have all the religious teachings gone? Governance – where is the family, the home? Peace and order – Ukraine, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan – another Korea, another Vietnam, only in another place, in another time.

8. Janus is progress, and progress is Janus. It is Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. It is The Prince and the Pauper. Capitalism has happy and sad faces – the latter painted in pain and sadness on millions all over the world. It is inequity that makes the world poor; we have more than enough food, clothing, shelter, and energy for everybody. What ideology can save the world? Capitalism or socialism? – No, not Terrorism.

As I grew older I did not only learn to adjust with the realities of life as I encountered it but to grasp its meaning from the points of view of famous philosophers and writers. I studied it with the famous lines from William Blake’s famous poem, Auguries of Innocence.

To wit.
“To see the world in a grain of sand;
And a Heaven a wild flower;
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.”

                                                                     - William Blake, Auguries of Innocence

If ever I have ventured into becoming a “redeemer” armed with a pen, I too, have learned from Blake’s verse of the way man should view the world in all its magnanimity yet in simplicity. If ever I have set foot to reach the corners of the Earth, and failed, I am consoled by the humble representation of “a grain of sand” that speaks of universal truth and values.

And beauty? If I have not found it in a garden of roses, I dare not step on a flowering weed. And posterity and eternity? They are all ensconced in periodicity, a divine accident of existence – to say that each and every one of us is here in this world by chance – an unimaginable chance – at “a certain time and place” which I believe has a purpose in whatever and however one lives his life. But I would say that a lifetime is all it takes “to see the world” and be part of it. It is a lifetime that we realize the true meaning of beauty, experience “infinity and eternity”. Lifetime is a daily calendar of victories and defeats.

While the world goes round and around . . .

The world like in Aristotle’s time continue to struggle with the preservation of values; the species will continue to evolve as postulated by Darwin; culture will express itself more fully since the first painting of early man dwelling in the caves of Lasceaux in France.

Ancestral home of the author in San Vicente IS

Trade and commerce will continue to progress, reaches a plateau and declines - a normal curve that goes with the rise and fall of civilizations. Yet leaders do not see it that way. Not even the Utopia of conquerors like Alexander the Great whose global economic vision two thousand five hundred years ago is fundamental to the great powers of today – the United States, European Union.

The great religions will continue to bring man to his knees and look into heaven amidst knowledge revolution and growing complexity of living, Man’s infinitesimal mind continues to probe the universe. Never has man been so busy, so bothered, so confused, yet so determined than ever before, and trying to fill up God’s seventh day.

As I go on reflecting I came across the book of Pope John Paul II, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, 1994. He warns us succinctly.

“This world, which appears to be a great workshop in whichknowledge is developed by man – which appears as progress and civilization, as a modern system of communication, as a structure of democratic freedom without any limitations – this world is not capable of making man happy.

- Pope John Paul II, On the Threshold of Hope

Now I am home, my father, my hometown. I do only wish for comfort. Thank you for you have taught me and instilled in me the spirit of virtue and fortitude. Thank you for making me a Vincentian.~




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Farming the Tridachna (Taklobo)

April 23, 2014, 2:36 pm
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Farming the Tridachna (Taklobo)
Dr Abe V Rotor

The taklobo is now a threatened species.
Graduate students from the University of
Santo Tomas visit a taklobo farm in Masinloc,
Zambales, 2010.

Taklobo shell as holy water receptacle.
Mount Carmel Church, QC

One way to spend a summer is to visit marine projects such as a Tridachna or taklobo farm. Farming the sea includes seaweeds such as

Caulerpa or lato, green seaweed, ar-arusip in Iloko
Porphyra or gamet, red seaweed, also known as nori in Japan
Codium or pokpoklo, green seaweed
Gracillaria or guraman (Ilk), brown seaweed
Eucheuma or guso, brown seaweed

Fish cage culture of grouper and mullet has become popular in many parts of the world. And now, genetically modified salmon which lost its homing and free range characteristics by crossing genetic materials of unrelated species.

The earliest attempt to farm the sea is by building fishponds, converting estuaries and swamps into fishponds. But in large and open shallow areas, fish pens and cages, became more feasible. Prawn, milkfish, catfish, tilapia are among the common species raised.

Shellfish like oysters and green mussels are grown in the estuaries, and the traditional way of using bamboo and rope on which the juvenile shellfish cling to has not changed. Perhaps the most sophisticated marine farming is pearl culture, where pearl formation is induced.

Today, farming has spilled over seas, estuaries, rivers and lakes, after conventional frontiers have been conquered, threatening ecological balance, and pitting farming and environmental conservation as strange bedfellows. Runaway population, growing affluence, advances in science and technology are all aimed at the so-called Good Life. We are wrong.

The taklobo is a natural indicator of our planet's health. It is now a threatened species . Out there in its natural habitat one could hardly find a taklobo. Soon only its fossil can be found either in the museum or in the church as receptacle of Holy Water.~
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Quo vadis, Movie? 

April 23, 2014, 2:49 pm
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Movie Parade at UST (1611-2011, Quadricentennial Celebration)
Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Movies took over the stage,
created make-believe players;
from arena to theaters,
cinema to home screen
these hundred years.

How technology spanned
live drama and celluloid,
Charlie Chaplin and Lucas,
Carl Jung and Simon Freud,
the young and the very old.

Hollywood to Bollywood,
white actors to colored,
aristocracy giving way
to realism on the road,
in stories simply told.

This is not all. It is just
the start of the future
which we live in today -
postmodern culture
in cyber adventure.

Movies, movies, movies
defy classification,
on Internet, television,
from studio to home grown
video to animation.

Quo vadis, movie?
where are you headed for?
for whom are you made
as we had known before,
at the local shore?

Is this a sign of demise,
of the movie, the classical,
movie, the great adventure,
movie, the historical,
true and ideal?

Movie does not speak,
or we just can't hear anymore,
under the heap of this strayed art
yearning not for more,
but for some quality score. ~
A popular movie animae
Local movie on the life of Rizal, an alumnus of UST
Scary theme, musical treatment
Witches walk the campus
Alice in Wonderland
"Good triumphs over evil."
Shrek and Company
2012 - Year of the Dragon
Pirates of the Caribbean
Avatar
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Part 3: Effective Teaching Aids

April 24, 2014, 5:00 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor

Relics and fossils as teaching aids 
Transform for advertisement. Stone elephant  welcomes guests in a Cove Resort
As you wait your order, witness the state-of-the-art  coffee brewing. 

Pirates of the Caribbean  costume - parade and stage play

Farm implements for farmers' workshop, NFA Grain Industry Museum
  
Listening to the sea with a conch - a make believe approach to teaching   
Graded project on recycling - skill development  
Giant wooden xylophone accompanies ethnic dance 

Students in biology used nails, paper clips, tin can, buttons and anything one can pick around, to make a giant Dileptus, a microscopic one-celled animal found in pond water.

Transforms stimulate both hemispheres of the brain, and they make the students become more aware and sensitive to the things around them. Imagine a series of nails glued along the side of the organism. It is a perfect illustration of cilia that the organism uses for locomotion, and to think that nails have another purpose and have nothing to do with biology. Short of saying that this approach is ethnic art, in many ways the students feel at home in the learning process. It is indigenous and simple. It makes use of discarded materials. It is dollar saver because we can do away with imported models that are expensive and may not even apply to local conditions. Many materials around us are waiting to be transformed into something useful if we know how.

These are kinds of transforms and their applications. Many of these are found at the biological laboratories. 
1. Examples of transforms in chemistry are models of atoms of elements and molecules of common compounds. These can be made of styropore, plastic and paper materials, better still wood.
2. Size, distance and positions of the planets in the solar system can be conveniently shown in a transform. This is perhaps the most common project in general science for high school.
3. In geology, soil profiles, cross-section of the earth, and cross-section of a volcano, are relatively easy to make.
4. Plant morphology, taxonomy and various growth stages, are popular models to make.
5. Embryology is best studied with models, so with the human body.
6. In literature, Shakespearean plays provide a wide choice of scenarios to choose from.
7. For history, significant events are re-enacted through transforms. So with the important people in history. The wax museum in Madrid houses life size personalities and fiction characters.
8. Puppet shows are among the first applications of transforms and dioramas. Remember, the scene of The Lonely Goatherd in Robert Wise’s Sound of Music?
9. Perhaps the biggest transform, if I call it as such, is the giant bird of Nazca. It is so huge you can only decipher the figure from an air plane.
10. The boundary of transforms and specimens in many cases is a thin line. Sometimes they are but one. A stuffed bird with simulated environment is a perfect example.

Toy as Transform
When is a toy a transform, or an educational tool? As a child I loved making toys and playthings out of simple things and without spending much. For example, a wooden thread reel makes a fine road buggy self-propelled by rubber band that serves like the spring of an old fashioned watch. There is no need of battery and there is no such thing as depreciation. Well, it is because it has few parts and there is virtually no cost involved.

The invention fascinated the kids in the neighborhood. Soon they had their own buggies, of course a shade of the Tamiya toy race car. The invention may not be worth patenting, but with the exorbitant price of cars and spiraling cost of fuel, there is good reason to think of re-inventing the wheel, so to speak.

Children don’t learn much from toys anymore.
Today’s toys come handy with a rich variety to choose from. There is no more effort to play a toy, more so to understand how it works. Inside the toy is unknown, a mystery that a child would like to find out and explore. It is the dismantling and subsequent destruction that satisfies his curiosity – if ever at all. Even knock down models do not offer the fresh feeling of success. So with toy models on the computer. Seldom does a child today grow wiser and more mature because of toys. During my time as a child when one made a toy that works, it was victory. Making toys is learning and a part of growing up. It is earning for oneself a trophy.
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Before, one made his own toy and he knew how it works. Today one unwittingly destroys a toy to find out how it works. Before, the element of function is the test of ones skill, such as in making a top or kite. Today, function is the realm of the manufacturer. Ready-made toys simply cater to the child’s curiosity, and incidentally to his learning. Modern toys create demand through style and sophistication that are not basic to functional design and value.
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Transforms are Evolving with the Times
It is the impact and value of a transform that one must look for. It is the relevance to present day situation that makes these tools valuable. As science and technology progress by leaps and bounds, many educational models have become outdated. For example, in genetics, limiting the model to the structure of the gene, and only to this level, would not sufficiently explain the new science of genetic engineering. One must know the Crick and Watson model and its latest version showing the DNA splitting and re-organizing in order to understand how Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) are made.

If we consider transform in its highest form, think of simulation. The laws of physics are best illustrated here. Gallileo climbed the leaning Tower of Pizza to demonstrate the relationship of mass and gravity. Darwin used transforms and actual specimens to illustrate his theory of evolution. Aerodynamics is studied in wind tunnels and weightlessness in gyroscopes.

Hands-on with Computer is a Different Experience
Computers are known for rapid processing, wide coverage, versatility and virtual reality. It has wired the world and shrunk it within the reach of every user of the tool. In fact the box and the user are one, so to speak. But it is this very dependence on the computer that leaves very little room for the user to seek basic knowledge and learn basic skills.

Computers cannot totally replace transforms, audio-visual aids, and other educational tools. In the natural world the senses are very important. They must be honed. They are man’s connection to nature. Development of a skill is an actual activity, and it takes time to perfect it. Values are gained with good company. Innovation emanates where there is necessity. It is like saying necessity is the mother of invention. Feelings are conveyed and shared in a very personal way. Which reminds me of a person who asked the computer what is the meaning of love. The reply was prompt and came in a hundred definitions. Not satisfied, he asked the computer to illustrate the feeling of one in love. To which the machine labored for the correct answer. Finally it gave up and replied, “Sorry, I cannot feel.”

Not with transforms. One must use his senses fully, a sixth included - a sense of appreciation that comes from the heart. “It is only through the heart that one speaks clearly,” said the fox to the Little Prince in the novel, The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery’. It is true. True learning comes not only from the mind, but also with the heart.

Transforms – Ever Ready Teaching Aid
A geometry teacher appeared at a loss. There was no blackboard; she was holding class under an acacia tree. “All right class, our lesson is about geometric figures,” she said simultaneously taking out a handkerchief. Every student took his handkerchief out, and the simple piece of cloth became a versatile educational tool.

As a farmhand I used to count chicken as they queued out in the morning from the shed. Because there were many, I would position myself at a vantage point to insure I counted them all with a simple devise. By breaking the stick every count of ten, then add the number of breaks when all the fowls are out, it was not at all a difficult task. Then I would compare the result with the stick I used the day before. Transforms serve as aids in measuring things where conventional or modern instruments are available. What other transforms of this kind do we know? Have you heard of the Pace Factor? Compute for your pace constant and you know how far you have walked or ran. Use it in determining the length of a corridor or dimensions of a hall or area of a rice field.

Fr. Jerry Orbos in one of his homilies used a new pair of chopsticks to drive his message. “You cannot use these chopsticks while the pair is still joined,” he said, and then broke the pair apart. “Now you can use it.”
Indeed transforms are important in bringing us back to our senses. • 
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Part 2: Are you an Effective Teacher? A personal evaluation.

April 24, 2014, 6:23 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Professors and graduate students of the Graduate School, University of Santo Tomas



Professors of the graduate school of Perpetual Help University La Piñas, Rizal


Lesson: Personal Evaluation as a teacher
In the first part of this article I presented the Profile of an Effective Teacher. This time I will try to explain effectiveness in teaching with the use of appropriate expertise models based on the same book of Dr. Flordeliza Clemente-Reyes, Unveiling Teaching Expertise: A Showcase of 69 Outstanding Teachers in the Philippines, a CHED sponsored project and publication.

Teaching expertise – like intelligence – is an abstract term because of its varying composites and the many factors that characterize it. There are two compositions however which are used as basis in relating it to effectiveness in teaching. These are the following:

 Essentials – Requisites or “musts” for the attainment of teaching expertise; and
 Enhancers – teaching practices and behaviors contributory to teaching expertise.

What then is effective teaching? How is it differentiated from responsible teaching? These are questions often asked in qualitative analysis of teaching.

Expertise is divided into six domains, namely

 Subject matter
 Instructional
 Classroom management
 Diagnostic communication
 Relational

1.Subject matter expertise – All of the experts demonstrates a very thorough knowledge of subject matter, which facilitates effective organization of content to promote learning

Thorough/excellent knowledge of content – All of the expert teachers possesses a thorough mastery of what they teach. They are experts in their field, they are well-read, their explanations are spontaneous. They know formulas by heart. Facts are at their fingertips. They have good knowledge on present issues.

Being up-to-date with the latest developments in their fields – The experts are updated and very knowledgeable, explain new alternative ways of solving a problem.

 Knowledge of the interrelationships among the structural elements or concepts of the subject matter -
The expert teachers have a clear, coherent view of the course content in terms of interrelationships among the various topics comprising it. All of them conduct their lessons coherently, such that subtopics form into a meaningful whole.

 Knowledge of the relationship of the lesson with other courses or disciplines – An ecology teacher treats the subject as a multidisciplinary issue. Another expert, a philosophy teacher, relates phenomenology with psychology. History of art is also the story of a civilization. What is the similarity in the use of parenthesis in mathematical statements and when used as punctuation mark?

 Knowledge of practical application and concrete, interesting examples to clarify abstract ideas/concepts – All of the expert teachers have readily available examples which are clear, simple, and interesting, to clarify issues or ideas.

2. Classroom Management Expertise – This is the ability of the teacher to prepare for and provide a physical learning environment. Students engage actively in class, time is properly managed, and students behave accordingly. A highly desirable study ethic prevails in class.

 Efficient handling of routine activities and time management – All expert teachers manage classroom routine and time efficiently. The teacher is familiar with the names of his students, and knows who is absent, who is a fast or slow learner. More than half of the experts (58%) do not check attendance because the students are properly monitored and absenteeism does not pose a problem. Classes start and end on time. The teacher employs different ways of maximizing class time, such as the use of OHP, and other instructional devises, including handouts.

 Maintenance of students’ on-task behavior - 92% of the experts use this enhancer. They use socialization techniques, encourage students to recite, motivate, and check their progress. There is never a dull moment in the classroom for an expert teacher.

 Absence of class disruptions – The expert teachers make sure that the class does not suffer from unnecessary disruption. The experts are not reactive to disruptive situations; they are proactive, meaning they anticipate and prevent such situations to happen – or they can immediately remedy the situation from getting worse.

3.Instructional Expertise – The expert teachers demonstrate facility in the use of varied instructional strategies, demonstrate knowledge of different teaching strategies, adopt group dynamics, and are particular in instructional clarity. They have the ability to simplify and clearly present lessons.

Use of varied teaching strategies – 90% of the expert teachers use varied teaching strategies. They employ other than lecture and recitation, song and movement, role-playing, pantomime, choral; reading visual imagery, concept mapping, brainstorming, contest, simulation, oral debate, cooperative learning etc.

 Use of varied instructional equipment and materials to enhance education – 83% of the expert teachers use other instructional equipment, devices, and materials (other than chalk and blackboard) to enhance their teaching. These include OHP, computer, tape recorder, slide projector, PowerPoint, videos and audiotapes, specimens, drawings, cartoons and many others.

 Instructional clarity – The students must have a clear understanding of the lesson. This is a primordial rule among the experts. The teacher clarifies at the onset the objective and coverage of the lesson beforehand. The lesson must be well organized, easy-to-follow, and direct to the point.

4.Communication Expertise – The experts are skillful in oral communication such as fluency, good diction, articulation and clear language, pleasant voice, and the like, coupled with expressive use of nonverbal language, such as facial expressions, hand and arm gestures, etc as natural visual aids. Communication is a two-way affair, characterized by attentive listening and openness to students’ questions and opinions. But the common denominator for this enhancer is skillful use of the language, which facilitates interactive and participative classroom atmosphere.

 Expressive non-verbal or body language – The expert teachers are every expressive in driving home a point through their voice, facial expression - that she herself is the visual aid.

Excellent oral communication skills – 88.4% of the expert teachers are very fluent, articulate and have good voice quality, like a DJ. They use English and Pilipino. Even if a teacher is intelligent, if she lacks facility in the use of the language, she will not be effective.

 Provision of two-way communication – All the experts provide for two-way communication in the classroom, although they differ in that some experts speak more expressively or emphatically than others.

5. Diagnostic Expertise – The expert teacher spots and readily identifies students who experience learning difficulties. Thus he makes provisions to encourage students, or to prevent the occurrence of learning difficulties, as may be the case.

o Sensitivity to students’ learning problems/difficulties – The expert teacher uses unconventional means of checking her students’ understanding about a lesson, by intentionally giving a wrong information. She pauses and ask, “What is wrong with this?”

o Anticipation of probable problems or misconceptions – The expert teacher is a good chess player – she anticipates the next move of her opponent, and possible an error. In the classroom she is kinder, but the same principle applies in anticipating the reaction of the students, more so wrong impressions about a topic.

6.Relational Expertise – refers to the teachers’ relations skills in the classroom, which facilitate the establishment of high rapport with the class, and the provision of facilitative approaches to learning. These make the students relaxed, self-confident, and affirmed.

 Non-threatening disposition - A pleasant disposition as shown on the videotape characterize the 69 expert teachers as having very pleasing personalities. They are non-threatening, non-intimidating, and are patient. They are accommodating, approachable, and friendly.

 Enthusiasm – Teaching is acting – real acting. She puts feeling in her work. “The teacher is very lively and enthusiastic throughout the lecture. There has never been a dull moment,” comment the students.

 Providing a psychologically safe learning environment–The expert teachers are concerned of their students with TLC. It is apparent that the students feel the same to their teachers. They interact, they laugh together, the teacher gives encouraging words, and knows how to deal with them formally and informally.

 Making learning pleasant and enjoyable – Expert teachers use entertainment strategies in teaching. He applies humor. Discussion is light. There is interaction. The students are free to express their talents without fear. The expert teacher uses basic theatre techniques, such as , “Name that tune,” expression of emotions, indoor and outdoor games.

 Classroom humor – Filipinos are fond of humor. HIV is “hair is vanishing.” Pilipino for family planning, English of balot. Expert teachers chose pleasant and clean jokes. There are 27 of the experts could ignite laughter in class through jokes and anecdotes. Humor built in the lecture though is more natural.

 Magnetism/Charisma – 53 or 77% expert teachers exude magnetism, charisma, or dynamism, while they are articulate and expressive. They are spontaneous, they attract students ands sustain their interest.

 High rapport with students – All of the expert teachers hold high rapport with their students. Reciprocally the students appear pleased and happy with their teachers. Deeper than that, there is mutual trust. There is camaraderie. “My students feel comfortable with me. They treat me like a father.”

 Affectionate interaction with students – 42 expert teachers are affectionate in dealing with their students during classroom instruction.” They consider their students special and important. They do not treat their students like numbered items. It is the extra effort of the teacher, especially in difficult situations that creates affection.

Responsible Teaching
The expert teachers are concerned not only with the development of the intellectual capability and maturity of the learners but also with the students’ moral development. Responsible teaching is therefore, an essential element of teaching. The expert teachers
 integrate values in teaching,
 communicate their belief in the students’ capacity for learning,
 facilitate development of understanding and draw out generalizations and insights,
 provide students opportunities to assume an active role in the learning process and to be responsible for their own learning, and
 select and implement teaching strategies, learning activities and instructional materials.

Learner-centered teaching

Learner-centeredness – 84% of the expert teachers generally value learner-centered over teacher-centered practices. They assume the role of learning facilitators. They encourage discussions, students’ questions, group dynamics, case analysis, field trips, and the like. The experts
 adjust to student personalities
 are sensitive to students’ needs
 consider each student as unique
 know the students
 put students’ welfare above his own

Developing students’ responsibility for learning – 84% of the experts draw out from students’ understanding and appreciation of the lesson through activities that actively engage the latter in the learning process. Instead of giving her opinion on the matter, the teacher throws back the problem to the student, so that the student can think critically and independently.

Values integration – Most of the expert teachers integrate values in their teaching. They offer to new teachers the role to
 strengthen personal human values
 lead people to Christ
 imbibe gospel values
 maintain high moral values

The illustration below puts in capsule all the attributes of A Filipino Model of Teaching Expertise, distinguishing the Essentials and the Enhancers.

Are You an Effective Teacher?
An Evaluation

Opposite each item, indicate your score based on the Likert Scale (1 Very Poor, 2 Poor, 3 Fair, 4 Good, 5 Very Good) Answer those with dot/square marks only

1.Subject matter expertise

 Thorough/excellent knowledge of content

 Being up-to-date with the latest developments in their fields

 Knowledge of the interrelationships among the structural elements or concepts of the subject matter -

 Knowledge of the relationship of the lesson with other courses or disciplines

 Knowledge of practical application and concrete, interesting examples to clarify abstract ideas/concepts

2. Classroom Management Expertise

 Efficient handling of routine activities and time management

 Maintenance of students’ on-task behavior

 Absence of class disruptions

3.Instructional Expertise

 Use of varied teaching strategies

 Use of varied instructional equipment and materials to enhance education

 Instructional clarity

3.Communication Expertise

 Expressive non-verbal or body language.

 Excellent oral communication skills

 Provision of two-way communication

4. Diagnostic Expertise

. Sensitivity to students’ learning problems/difficulties

. Anticipation of probable problems or misconceptions

5.Relational Expertise

 Non-threatening disposition

 Enthusiasm

 Providing a psychologically safe learning environment

 Making learning pleasant and enjoyable

 Classroom humor

 Magnetism/Charisma

 High rapport with students

 Affectionate interaction with students


B. Responsible Teaching

 integrate values in teaching

 communicate their belief in the students’ capacity for learning

 facilitate development of understanding and draw out generalizations and insights

 provide students opportunities to assume an active role in the learning process and to be responsible for their own learning

 select and implement teaching strategies, learning activities and instructional materials.

 Learner-centered teaching

 Learner-centeredness

 Developing students’ responsibility for learning

 Values integration

NOTE: We are all teachers in our own rights - at home, in our community, in the office, and the like. This evaluation applies to all of us. xxxx
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Part 1: Are you an Effective Teacher? Unveiling Teaching Expertise

April 24, 2014, 6:25 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor 
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday

Research and publication contribute immensely to effectiveness in teaching. Launching of books published by UST in celebration of its 400th anniversary
Professors of SPUQC take time out on a retreat. Angels' Hills, Tagaytay

Lesson: Are you an effective teacher? Please read this article. Find out the basis and criteria of an effective teacher.
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The characteristics of an effective teacher are described in a book written by Dr. Flordeliza Clemente-Reyes, Unveiling Teaching Expertise – A Showcase of 69 Outstanding Teachers in the Philippines. The book summarizes the results of a nationwide research initiated and funded by the Commission on Higher Education in cooperation with non-governmental organizations and various colleges and universities.

Profiling the outstanding teacher from the 69 finest teachers of the country was conducted on 28 private and 12 state universities distributed in 12 regions of the country. Twenty-eight of these teachers are Metrobank Outstanding Teachers and were automatically included in the list, while the other 41 were chosen by a composite team from CHED, the National Council of Educational Innovators (NCEI), with the support of NGOs, with De La Salle University as its research base. At the time of the study these teachers were handling courses in PAASCU Level-3 accredited colleges and universities, or Centers of Excellence, or both, and have earned the reputation of being outstanding teachers in their respective institutions.
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 In a capsule an effective teacher is generally

§ An expert in all four areas of teaching, namely, subject matter, classroom management, instruction, and diagnostics in teaching;

§ One who has a personal educational philosophy regarding beliefs, assumptions and convictions regarding his role as a teacher;

§ Married, and most likely a woman in her middle age – 40 and above; (Women dominate men in the teaching profession, 4 to 1)

§ A college performer, but not necessarily an honor student and campus leader;

§ One whose initial career was not set to teaching - in fact did not take up formal undergraduate education subjects and training;

§ A postgraduate degree holder with a master’s degree at least, in any specific field in natural and social sciences, and other disciplines;

§ A “mix-brain” that is, a person whose logical and creative hemispheres of the brain are effectively put to use in tandem;

§ A model person with personal attributes, virtues, and teaching methods that nurture favorable teacher-student relationship;

§ One who draws inspiration from both within and outside the school, such as members of his family;

§ A cheerful, willing and motivated person always in pursuit of continued professional growth.

Four Areas of Expertise of the Outstanding Teacher

The expert teacher has been found to possess four types of expertise, namely:

1. Subject matter expertise, which means that the teacher has a mastery of content-specific knowledge and the organization of this knowledge for effective instruction.

2. Classroom management expertise, that is, the expert teacher maintains a high level of on-task students’ classroom behavior, which prevents or eliminates learning disruptions, while it creates an environment conducive to learning.

3. Instructional expertise, which means that the teacher has both implicit and explicit knowledge on various teaching strategies and methods to attain predefined instructional objectives.

4. Diagnostic expertise, which refers to the ability of the teacher to know both the class and individual needs and goals, abilities, achievement levels, motives, personality attributes, and emotions, which influence instruction and learning.

Holistic Mentor-Learner Interaction

The key to effectiveness in teaching is a holistic approach whereby there is a mutual and orderly interaction in the teaching-learning process, with the teacher placing a high premium on the development of thinking and understanding. Educators attribute teaching expertise to the teachers’ affectionate interactions with the learners, and to their efforts towards developing learners’ responsibility for learning. There are of course many other factors that influence effectiveness in teaching because of the wide diversity in culture, affected by certain economic, ecological and political conditions.

Attributes of the Expert Teacher

1. Women dominate the teaching profession. Of the 69 outstanding teachers, women constitute 74% as compared with that of men which is 26 &, or a ratio of 4 to 1. The reason for this is that men place less priority to teaching than better paying jobs. This is manifested in the choice of careers. In the case of men, they prefer law, engineering, and applied courses in industry and technology that offer better professional growth opportunities and pay as compared to teaching.

2. The median age of the expert teacher is 50. Majority of the experts (82.6%) are in their past 40. Surprisingly one-fifth of the experts is in the 60 to 79 age bracket. These data point out that teaching – contrary to common belief – does not deteriorate with age. On the other hand, teaching improves with time and experience. Distilled and seasoned knowledge is wisdom.

3. Forty-five of the 69 expert teachers are married. The remaining 24 are single with two of them a nun and a priest. Again at this point, contrary to common belief, being married and having a family is not a deterrent to being a good teacher. On the contrary there are many cases where teaching career is enhanced by an understanding and cooperative family.

4. In general, the 69 outstanding teachers did not choose teaching as their first career. Only 26 actually set their minds to teaching as early as upon graduation in high school. For one reason or another the 43 set out for other careers. Others found teaching compatible with their present professions, while a good number opted to spend their retirement as teachers or professors. Among the outstanding teachers are practicing agriculturists, journalists, scientists, lawyers, doctors, engineers, TV hosts, and the like. This shows that a good teacher may not have started out early in his career as teacher but ended up becoming a good teacher. Professions and experiences outside of teaching greatly contribute to teaching effectiveness.

5. The experts were academic achievers in college. There were only 14 of the experts who were active in extracurricular activities in college, say in athletics and campus politics. Fifty-eight are academic achievers, with 33 as top performers but who did not make it in the dean’s list, and 25 who were consistent scholars and honor students. Only 11 were average academic performers. Dr. Reyes explains the relationship of academic performance and expertise in teaching this way. “Academic achievers generally have good self-esteem and exude high self-confidence – personal attributes that are helpful to teachers, cognitive intelligence as a facilitative factor to subject mastery and instructional skills, notwithstanding.” An intelligent teacher is therefore highly desirable so long as he demonstrates humility patience and understanding. On the other hand, “magtitser ka na lang,” is an insult to the teaching profession.

6. On the educational attainment of the expert teachers, 35 of them have doctoral degrees while 26 have master’s degrees. The remaining ones were at the time of the survey still pursuing their graduate studies. This means that 88.4% of the expert teachers have at least a master’s degree, which points out to the importance of graduate education as a factor in effective teaching. Graduate education is characterized by “extensive professional reading and research, as well as personal discipline, perseverance, diligence, and a strong motivation to succeed,” in the words of Dr. Reyes. The pursuit of graduate studies confirms the strong conviction of the teacher towards excellence and dedication in his profession. Graduate studies confer the imprimatur of a teacher’s professional status, and his place among his peers.

7. The expert teachers do not only possess high educational attainment; they also excel in specific disciplines or fields of study. Here is a breakdown of the findings:

§ Education and related fields 36 %
§ Applied and natural sciences 26
§ Languages, literature, communication art 15
§ Medicine, nursing and public health 6
§ Political, social science, economics 6
§ Psychology, guidance and counseling 5
§ Philosophy 3
§ Agriculture 3

It is interesting to note that 55 of the experts have either completed or enrolled in programs that offer rich opportunities for sharing research, information, and work experiences in the school setting.

8. On teaching experience, the range is wide – 2 to 47 years, with a median of 25 years. Yes, it takes 25 years to be a model teacher. There is a saying, “Experience does not only make a good teacher; experience is the best teacher.”

9. Which hemisphere of the brain is more useful to the expert teacher? The different specializations of expert teachers attest to a left-right brain combination or mix-brain, which means that the use of both hemisphere in proper balance and harmony is needed in teaching - the left for language, mathematics and logic, and the right which is dominantly for creativity is for intuition, inspiration and imagination. Majority of the expert teachers are mix-brained (43 women and 11 men). The rest are left-brained who are experts in the fields of science, mathematics, language, philosophy, research, nursing and agriculture. The survey came up with a negative right-brained among the experts.

10. The effective teacher draws inspiration from his or her family. Almost one-half of the expert teachers consider the supportive role of family members who understand the nature of teaching as having greatly contributed to their success. Twenty of the expert teachers mentioned of a family member as their mentor and source of inspiration. On the other hand the role of school administrators is very important, with almost 70% of the participants attributing the administration’s support to their success. The ambiance of teaching is equally important whereby the school is one large respectable family with a community atmosphere.

11. The 69 experts are divided according to the following philosophies of education, namely

v The majority of the participants (29 women and 6 men) are experimentalists. They uphold the experimental educational philosophy. This means that these teachers are flexible and open to educational change.

v Twelve are advocates to eclectic educational philosophy, which means that they do not subscribe to just one philosophy, and they shift their roles from being facilitators of learning to transmitters and interpreters of knowledge.

v Twelve are perennialists, that is, they perceive themselves as authority figures in the classroom, transmitting and interpreting knowledge.

v Nine are realists. They tend to focus on the here and now. They stress knowledge as how it is applied or observed. For example the laws of nature are better understood through observation and research.

v Only one among the expert teachers is an idealist. She views education as a means of developing students’ intellectual abilities. Influenced by the Greek philosophers Socrates and Plato, she stresses the importance of logic and philosophy.

Given these premises, the expert teacher is motivated to learn more, to expand his horizon as new things evolve – in science and technology, management, education, research, and in the many ways the world and human society are changing. His love for his profession takes him to a higher realm of continuing professional growth, his love for knowledge itself, which is the primordial tool in teaching, and in sharing them to the younger and future generations in the wisdom and humility of the Good Shepherd. ~




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Listen to the Music of Nature!

April 24, 2014, 6:51 am
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Dr Abe V Rotor
Identify the sounds of nature in this painting, translate them into notes. Arrange the notes into melody, and expand it into a composition.Try with an instrument - guitar, piano, violin, flute. This is your composition.Mural detail, Nature: Rivulets and Streams, AVR 2011
Ethnic music makes a wholesome life; it is therapy.

Have you ever noticed village folks singing or humming as they attend to their chores? They have songs when rowing the boat, songs when planting or harvesting, songs of praise at sunrise, songs while walking up and down the trail, etc. Seldom is there an activity without music. To them the sounds of nature make a wholesome music.

According to researcher Leonora Nacorda Collantes, of the UST graduate school, music influences the limbic system, called the “seat of emotions” and causes emotional response and mood change. Musical rhythms synchronize body rhythms, mediate within the sphere of the autonomous nervous and endocrine systems, and change the heart and respiratory rate. Music reduces anxiety and pain, induces relaxation, thus promoting the overall sense of well being of the individual.

Music is closely associated with everyday life among village folks more than it is to us living in the city. The natives find content and relaxation beside a waterfall, on the riverbank, under the trees, in fact there is to them music in silence under the stars, on the meadow, at sunset, at dawn. Breeze, crickets, running water, make a repetitious melody that induces sleep. Humming indicates that one likes his or her work, and can go on for hours without getting tired at it. Boat songs make rowing synchronized. Planting songs make the deities of the field happy, so they believe; and songs at harvest are thanksgiving. Indeed the natives are a happy lot.

Farm animals respond favorably to music, so with plants.

In a holding pen in Lipa, Batangas, where newly arrived heifers from Australia were kept, the head rancher related to his guests the role of music in calming the animals. “We have to acclimatize them first before dispersing them to the pasture and feedlot.” He pointed at the sound system playing melodious music. In the duration of touring the place I was able to pick up the music of Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Bach. It is like being in a high rise office in Makati where pipe in music is played to add to pleasant ambiance of working. Scientists believe that the effect of music on humans has some similarity with that of animals, and most probably to plants.

Which brings us to the observation of a winemaker in Vienna. A certain Carlo Cagnozzi has been piping Mozart music to his grapevines for the last five years. He claims that playing round the clock to his grapes has a dramatic effect. “The grapes ripen faster,” he said, adding that it also keeps away parasites, fruit bats and birds. Scientists are now studying this claim to enlarge the limited knowledge on the physiological and psychological effects of music on plants and animals.

Once I asked a poultry raiser in Teresa, Rizal, who also believes in music therapy. “The birds grow faster and produce more eggs,” he said. “In fact music has stopped cannibalism.” I got the same positive response from cattle raisers where the animals are tied to their quarters until they are ready for market. “They just doze off, even when they are munching,” he said, adding that tension and unnecessary movement drain the animals wasting feeds that would increase the rate of daily weight gain. In a report from one of the educational TV programs, loud metallic noise stimulates termites to eat faster, and therefore create more havoc.

There is one warning posed by the proponents of music therapy. Rough and blaring music agitates the adrenalin in the same way rock music could bring down the house.

The enchantment of ethnic music is different from that of contemporary music.

Each kind of music has its own quality, but music being a universal language, definitely has commonalities. For example, the indigenous lullaby, quite often an impromptu, has a basic pattern with that of Brahms’s Lullaby and Lucio San Pedro’s Ugoy ng Duyan (Sweet Sound of the Cradle). The range of notes, beat, tone, expression - the naturalness of a mother half-singing, half-talking to her baby, all these create a wholesome effect that binds maternal relationship, brings peace and comfort, care and love.

Serenades from different parts the world have a common touch. Compare Tosselli’sSerenade with that of our Antonio Molina’s Hating Gabi (Midnight) and you will find similarities in pattern and structure, exuding the effect that enhances the mood of lovers. This quality is more appreciated in listening to the Kundiman (Kung Hindi Man, which means, If It Can’t Be). Kundiman is a trademark of classical Filipino composers, the greatest of them, Nicanor Abelardo. His famous compositions are

· Bituin Marikit (Beautiful Star)
· Nasaan Ka Irog (Where are You My Love)
· Mutya ng Pasig (Muse of the River Pasig)
· Pakiusap (I beg to Say)

War drums on the other hand, build passion, heighten courage, and prepare the mind and body to face the challenge. It is said that Napoleon Bonaparte taught only the drumbeat of forward, and never that of retreat, to the legendary Drummer Boy. As a consequence, we know what happened to the drummer boy. Pathetic though it may be, it's one of the favorite songs of Christmas.

Classical music is patterned after natural music.

The greatest composers are nature lovers – Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Rachmaninoff, and our own Abelardo, Molina, Santiago, and San Pedro. Beethoven, the greatest naturalist among the world’s composers was always passionately fond of nature, spending many long holidays in the country. Always with a notebook in his pocket, he scribbled down ideas, melodies or anything he observed. It was this love of the countryside that inspired him to write his famous Pastoral Symphony. If you listen to it carefully, you can hear the singing of birds, a tumbling waterfall and gamboling lambs. Even if you are casually listening you cannot miss the magnificent thunderstorm when it comes in the fourth movement.

Lately the medical world took notice of Mozart music and found out that the music of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart music can enhance brain power. In a test conducted, a student who listened to the Sonata in D major for Two Pianos performed better in spatial reason. Mozart music was also found to reduce the frequency of seizure among coma patients, improved the interaction of autistic children, and is a great help to people who are suffering of Alzheimer’s disease. The proponents of Mozart’s music call this therapeutic powerMozart Effect.

What really is this special effect? A closer look at it shows similar therapeutic effect with many sounds like the noise of the surf breaking on the shore, rustling of leaves in the breeze, syncopated movement of a pendulum, cantabile of hammock, and even in the silence of a cumulus cloud building in the sky. It is the same way Mozart repeated his melodies, turning upside down and inside out which the brain loves such a pattern, often repeated regularly. about the same length of time as brain-wave patterns and those that govern regular bodily functions such as breathing and walking. It is this frequency of patterns in Mozart music that moderates irregular patterns of epilepsy patients, tension-building hormones, and unpleasant thoughts.

No one tires with the rhythm of nature – the tides, waves, flowing rivulets, gusts of wind, bird songs, the fiddling of crickets, and the shrill of cicada. In the recesses of a happy mind, one could hear the earth waking up in spring, laughing in summer, yawning in autumn and snoring in winter – and waking up again the next year, and so on, ad infinitum. ~


And, of course the Caruso in the animal kingdom - the frog. Here a pair of green pond frogs, attracted by their songs which are actually mating calls, will soon settle down in silent mating that last for hours.
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UST GS: Self Administered Test in Entomology

April 24, 2014, 6:54 am
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Assignment: For all Entomology students under the author. For those joining the field trips, conduct this test to each member of your group - including your professors and guests. The results will be treated confidentially.  They may not write their names. Limit the test to not more than 20 minutes.  It must be done independently and spontaneously. (Please download and reproduce this questionnaire.)  

Dr Abe V Rotor
Living with Nature - School on Blog
Paaralang Bayan sa Himpapawid (People's School-on-Air) with Ms Melly C Tenorio
738 DZRB AM, 8-9 evening class Monday to Friday


Part 1 True or False 

1. The study of insects is Entomology. Which includes Arachnids. 

2. All insects have three pairs of legs and two pair of wings. 

3. Magkamag-anak ang insekto, sugpo at alimango, ganon din ang gagamba. They all belong to one phylum.  

4. If you find harmful insects around, the best thing to do is spray agad parang masugpo - before they get out of control. 

5. You can prepare a simple solution to keep off insects in your garden: crushed garlic, little soap and kerosene and one pail of water – just water on the plants with a sprinkler. 

6. IPM means Integrated Pest Management – universally the standard in pest control.

7. The first to adopt in IPM ay ang wastong pagbubukid, sanitation, cleanliness.

8. Ang ikalawang bahagi ng IPM is the protection and encouragement of the natural enemies of harmful insects,like spider and preying mantis.

9. Ang mga sumusunod ay tinatawag social insects: termites, ants, wasps, locusts and bees. 

10. Colonies of aphids, scale insects, mites are pseudo-social in nature.

11. Lahat na grasshopper, if starved and threatened will form the congregans and migratory stage, the explanation to swarming.

12. Social insects are strictly matriarchal that is, the queen is the head of the colony.

13. Preying mantis mating is characterized by the killing and feeding of the male by the female to insure fertilization – and the continuation of the species.

14. Among the exotic insects for gourmet is the mole cricket, Grylotalpha africana or camaro.

15. The best jumper in the insect world is the grasshopper – that is why it is called hopper.

16. The Chinese are fond of taking care of field crickets a pet , they serve as watchdog especially at  night.

17. There are insects that live for 17 years, other 20 years – or even more.

18. The shortest living insect is the Mayfly – lacewing, called Ephemerid (Family Ephemerida).

19. The total wight of ants in the world outweighs that of the total weight of human beings.

20. Chemical control is the last resort in pest control – always.

21. Advertisements of spraying insects are exposing users to extreme danger.

22. Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, criticized pesticide manufacturers for the annihilation of birds that feed on insects of sprayed crops.

23. In swarming, different colonies on the same species are timed simultaneously to encourage cross breeding.

24. The queen of honeybees mates only once in her lifetime. 

25. The firefly carries a lamp – bioluminescence that is almost all light, and very little is heat.  It is the most efficient light, and the only light of its kind.

26. "Virgin birth" is exhibited by certain insects.  This phenomenon is called
paedogenesis.

27. The old classification of Order Orthoptera has be revised,separating cockroach, walking stick, and preying mantis into their respective Orders. Grasshopperss are retained under Orthoptera.

28.  The antennae of insects are used to taste, to smell, as radar, and sensor of temperature humidity.  

29. The exoskeleton of insects is made of chitin, lighter and more durable than plastic.  

30. Insects came about after the demise of the dinosaurs.  Being small they survived the harsh conditions that killed big organisms. 

Part 2 Write at the back page)

A. Draw from your stock of knowledge a grasshopper and label its parts. Pls don't copy.
B. Give the scenarios.  Suppose man succeeds in eliminating insects completely from the earth. 
C. Give a comprehensive description about the photograph above.
D. What is the most mysterious aspect (one only) you know about insects, or a particular insect.  Explain.
E. If genetic engineering is applied on insects, what would it be? ~
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