The Dilemma Of My Friend Nestor Maniebo Pestelos, (Not) Coming Out With His Personal-Social Memoirs At 81!

Nestor Maniebo Pestelos from Tiaong, Quezon, married & living in Tagbilaran City, Bohol, is a good friend of mine, mind, dating back 60+ years when we were students at UPCA, now UP Los Baños – we both took the competitive writing exam for the Editor In Chief of the UPCA Student Body Organization’s newspaper called Aggie Green & Gold, and he won. He already had content and style, from voracious reading, including Jean-Paul Sarte – existentialist. Me, never heard of him!

And you know what Nestor Mn Pestelos did as Editor In Chief? He appointed Frank A Hilario, a stranger, full-blooded Ilocano, Tagalog Editor! A historical first. Ah, but in high school, I had been devouring Liwayway and Bulaklak!

The other day or so, I saw Nestor’s Lament on Facebook, this:

Nestor Maniebo Pestelos

NOTES TO MYSELF AT 70 (… First time to be posted)… Surprised I found this in my digital file. This was written 9 years ago, when I reached 70. Must find time to finish it now that I feel my body is approaching its deadline. Morbid but we have to accept our body is not made to last forever. Yes, it has an expiration date.

I don’t think my friend has something he is being careful about, a disease – but I can see he has a dis-ease that has no expiration date – cannot even begin to write his book!

Now you know why I created this new blog of mine – to egg on & help my friend write his book that only he can.

Must go back to that Memoirs project I meant to write upon retirement in 2001 but got involved in many development adventures and misadventures. … The clock is ticking fast. Must find time to reduce my work load and devote priority time to writing this “Final Notes on our Way Out.” (Tentative title).

So it’s not 10 years – it has been 20 years in planning, planning – and planning!

Nestor is a friend of Ed Dela Torre, ex-priest and activist. I know Nestor himself went underground during Ferdinand Edralin Marcos Sr’s Martial Law years, I don’t know exactly when. And do you know who saved Nestor Pestelos from himself?

First Lady Imelda Romualdez Marcos saved Nestor Pestelos from the jaws of death!

Do you see now how eye-popping it would be to read my friend Nestor’s memoirs, a story of his life as his last will and testament?

I wrote this note as a reminder to myself about this project.

And Nestor wrote that note 1 year ago!

Ayn Rand was one of the books Nestor Pestelos loved to read when we were AGG editors and aggie students. (Never heard of Ayn Rand either.) Yes, he was always reading, even while walking!

Question: Why can’t Nestor Maniebo Pestelos write his blockbuster memoirs? Answer: He has too many things in his mind!

And I’m just beginning to give advice to people who can’t write their memoirs because they don’t have a creative way of doing it!@517

Frank A Hilario, Out-Of-Eden ADAM – All-Around Advanced Digital Assistant For Manuscript Management

"I AM ADAM" means "I am an All-Around Advanced Digital Assistant For Modern Manuscript Management” at your service!

My one-man-band work for the issues of 2001-2008 as Editor In Chief of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS) published by the Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP) based at UP Los Baños in Laguna, is an excellent example of what I can do for anybody, or any group, with my skills as ADAM – “All-Around Advanced Digital Assistant For Modern Manuscript Management” – that is an original coinage. With the PJCS, I did everything except write the papers published – I did write the editorial, though; and I designed the covers of all the 22 issues of PJCS that I worked on until it became “ISI” – meaning, it was listed in the internationally prestigious list called ISI (now Web of Science).

This is from the 03 June 2013 essay that I uploaded to my blog named after me: Frank A Hilario (frankahilario.blogspot.com), where I said pertinently about the image above:

This is all about the Philippine Journal of Crop Science (PJCS); you're looking at the cover of one of the PJCS issues that I designed (in fact, I designed all the 22 covers while I was Editor in Chief, 2001-2008). On the cover of this one, August 2005 issue, the PC clip art is the illustration of my editorial, "The Challenge Of Creativity In Science & The Quest For Quality."

So, today, I am offering you my digital services; you can choose one or all of the below:

Writer 
Editor 
Desktop publisher
Layout artist
Image manipulator
Formatter of texts
Designer of pages

I am your Editor In Chief when needed, all digital. You can ask the publisher of the Philippine Journal of Crop Science(PJCS), which is the Crop Science Society of the Philippines (CSSP), how I worked on the PJCS so fast and so well – the issues were late in coming by 3 years, meaning 9 issues; I actually worked on the issues from 2003 to 2008 – but I had to begin with the 2001 issue because the journal was late 3 years – and made that journal up-to-date in 3 years, in 2007, meaning I worked double time, all with the PC! And with what quality of editing and desktop publishing? The PJCS was listed in the prestigious ISI (World of Knowledge) already the next year, 2008.

I work 100% on the desktop PC and the desktop printer when necessary.

If you need digital editorial help, send me a Facebook message.

“Democracy & The Proper Role Of Journalism?” “All Media For The Good Of All” – Frank A Hilario

What is the proper role of the “press,” today enlarged as “media,” in a developing country like the Philippines? Inez Ponce De Leon (above) more or less claims in her Inquirercolumn, it is “speaking truth to power” (06 July 2022, “Free Press And True History,” (opinion.inquirer.net).

(“Role Of Media” image from PTV News, ptvnews.ph)

Ms Inez speaks of media’s accepted role. Which is not acceptable to me!

I write based on a self-taught & self-styled journalism born 16 April 1975 starting employment by the Forest Research Institute (FORI), based in the campus of UP Los Baños, where I became the Founder & Editor In Chief of FORI’s monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitat.

Thinking back with what Ms Inez just said, 47 years ago I was “speaking truth to people withoutpower!” Was my journalism less?

I quote Ms Inez’ first paragraph in full:

Freedom of speech is invoked so carelessly, it has become wrongly equated with speaking without accountability. Of equal concern, given recent events, is press freedom. Press freedom, however, is not simply allowing lies to flourish in the media. True freedom rests on the journalistic responsibilities of adhering to ethical standards, objective collection of data, and speaking truth to power.

Others, media for justice: “We seek to change the media to transform democracy to realize a just society” – Craig Arron & Jessica J Gonzalez, Co-CEO, Free Press (2003? freepress.net).

Me, Media for development: The journalism I have practiced for 47 years is Development Journalism: “Communication for Village Development in the 21st Century (CoViD21).”

If your journalism does not support social development, I will not support it!

Janet Steele, in her bookEncyclopedia of Journalism, explains it (2009, Editor: Christopher H Sterling, academia.edu):

Development journalism is a type of reporting and writing on topics related to the process of economic development. Its supporters define it as independent journalism that highlights news of development projects, provides critical coverage of development planning and programs, and informs readers of how the development process is affecting them.

Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha says, “The press and public must unite… [It is] important for all to proceed with reforms and move the country forward” (30 June 2022, “PM Coy On Political Future, Cultivates Media,” Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com).

That is so important I want to repeat it boldly:

“It is important for all to proceed with reforms and move the country forward” – Prayut Chan-O-Cha.

The Prime Minister of Thailand understands the proper role of journalism but not the Thai journalists themselves!

In his inaugural speech, among other things President Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr said:

When my call for unity started to resonate with you, it did so because it echoed your yearning, mirrored your sentiments, and expressed your hopes for family, for country and for a better future.

Journalists, take a cue from BBM on what your journalism is best for: “for family, for country and for a better future.”

“All media for the good of all!”@517

BBM Sir, We Also Need To Create A Brave New World For Agri Journalism – We Need A “Baro a Bibliya Basaen Mannalon” (“Baro a BBM”) – “New Broad Bible for Multiculture” (“New BBM”)

Your inaugural address as 17^thPresident of the Philippines at the national museum at noon today, Thursday, 30 June 2022 – as a whole: Beautiful speech! Noted: You make it a point that to move the country forward, depends on you and us.

BBM Sir, you said:

I am here to tell you about our future. A future of sufficiency, even plenty of readily available ways and means to get done what needs doing – by you, by me. We do not look back, but ahead. Up the road that we must take to a place better than the one we lost in the pandemic.

“A future of sufficiency” – among others, we will need all the intelligent efforts of our farmers. PH Agriculture is not producing enough food because:

To achieve food sufficiency, we must get our farmers to apply enough of the Arts and Sciences of Agriculture. That basically calls for a dynamic Agri Journalism, backed by a Digital Library of Agriculture. Today, we lack both!

I’m thinking of that digital library in 2 languages. In Ilocano, it’s “Baro a Bibliya Basaen Mannalon” (“Baro a BBM”); in English, it’s “New Broad Bible for Multiculture” (“New BBM”) – “Multiculture” insinuating crops & livestock mixes, excellent for agriculture and the environment, especially contra climate change.

I have to introduce myself. I am Frank A Hilario, the “Father of Agri Journalism,” as UP Los Baños alumnus Reynaldo Mendoza points out on Facebook. I did not realize that until today; yes, I am the “Father of the Binhi Awards” [check out my essay, “Journalists, Wake Up! Philippine Agricultural Journalists (PAJ), You Have Been Slipping On The Job. Frank A Hilario, Father Of “Binhi Awards” Proposes New “Ani Awards” For You To Further Serve Science To Serve Farm Families To Bring Themselves To Prosperity!” (29 June 2022, Towards A New Eden, towardsaneweden.blogspot.com]. I fathered the “Binhi Awards” in 1976, and “Ka Doroy” Valencia God-fathered it.

BBM Sir, particularly, you said in your speech:

Yet there is more out there. Like going forward by new ways of doing, that the pandemic forces [us] to adopt, a stronger resilience, quicker adaptability.

In your hope of making our country successful, your hope is my hope. And in our hope for our brighter future and the futures of our children, your hope is my hope.

Sir, the digital library I am proposing is for the brighter future of Agriculture – through intellectual efforts of government-financed state universities & colleges, led by UP Los Baños, translating technical language into high schooler-understandable language; the highschoolers will then inform their fathers.
(“Women in food” image from IFAJ, linkedin.com)

I propose to be the brains behind Baro a BBM/New BBM, being the son of a farmer in Asingan, Pangasinan, and an alumnus of UP Los Baños.

With a digital library for agriculture, agri journalists will help our farmers win the war for prosperity. (A woman could start the ball rolling, yes!)@517

BBM Sir, About The Negative Media, If You Want It Done Right, You Have To Do It Yourself! This Ilocano Recommends Setting Up A Media Group Called “Bloggers for Building Minds Media (BBM Media) – THiNK! Journalism For National Development

All over Facebook, the #1 website of Filipinos, media posts from the North (Ilocano) to lower Luzon (Bicolano) to the Visayas (Bisaya) to the South (Muslim), the news and views are mostly negative. I call it “Stink Journalism.” Mine is “THiNK! Journalism” – and here I volunteer from Asingan, Pangasinan, to help you, Sir Ferdinand “BBM” Marcos Jr, to think development & act positively!

(Image sources: “CNN Live,” Yahoo!News, ph.news.yahoo.com); “Positive News,” Favpng, favpng.com)

My advice is to fund a new media group whose outputs will soar above Stink Journalism – I call it “THiNK! Journalism,” the concept & term which I invented myself blogging about it almost 5 years ago, on 24 Oct 2017 (“THiNK! Journalism: Calling For Nobler Kinds Of People In Media,” Creative Thinkering, creativethinkering.blogspot.com).

Now then, BBM Sir, I urge you not simply to call for nobler kinds of people in media but to form a media group yourself, bloggers et al, with strict instructions to be always creative and to always practice THiNK! Journalism. Which works like this:

True is it? If True,
Helpful is it? If Helpful,
Inspiring is it? If Inspiring,
Necessary is it? If Necessary,
Kind is it?
THiNK! Then go ahead with Your Journalism. expressing Your Patriotism.

I am calling your to-be-set-up group
“Bloggers for Building Minds” Media (BBM Media).

I am ready, willing and able to extend my skills in creative writing, editing, layouting, desktop publishing, up to the creation of the portable-document-format (pdf) pages – all digital. After me, you are ready to:

1.     Upload your text + visual output to the website, say, bbmmedia.com.

2.     Print commercial copies. All you need is a commercial printer, and BBM Media will purchase a print-on-demand printer, for instant hard copies in 5 minutes or so!

For BBM Media:
“The sky’s the limit – and your imagination is the sky!”
That quote is my original, 13 years old (see 07 April 2009, “BrainShopping. Now, You Can Forget About BrainStorming!” Frank A Hilario, frankahilario.blogspot.com).

With me as all-digital Editor In Chief for BBM Media, nobody will run out of new ideas; new stories! Unparalleled Creativity – How else could I, writer from home (WFH) have bloggedeveryday in the last 3 years, am now 81+?!

Special note: Frank A Hilario has a BS Agriculture degree from UP Los Baños, 1965. I have the sole distinction of being honored as “Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing” (2011), the first and the only one so far in the 100-year-plus history of UPLB.

BBM Media – Personally, you could initially fund it with P5 million: Central office, people, print-on-demand printer; journalists in digital offices (mostly WFH) – with personal computers, extension monitors, printers, supplies of ink and paper – including Internet setups.

BBM Media will come up with Positive News; it will “Change the news for good.” THiNK! Journalism will go for development of the islands from North to South. Let’s begin today!@517

BBM Sir, As Interim Agriculture Secretary, I Hope You Will See That, Among Other Things, PH Agriculture Needs A Digital Library That Encourages Learning About Intelligent Farming To Fight Poverty Alongside Climate Change!

I am confident these wide-awake dreams will come true: (1) “P20/kg rice” and (2) “Ang Bagong BBM” (Ang Bagong Balangkas na Bibliya para sa Magsasaka”), or “The BBM Digital Library,” a cellphone-ready knowledge source for highschoolers to visit and draw inspiration and instructions from science publications.

Thank you Evelyn P Antonio for sharing this quote from an American hero of sociology, history, civil rights activism, and writing (Wikipedia, en.wikipedia.org): WEB Du Bois; I identify with his determination to fight for the “Prosperity Of A Nation,” even for his race, the American Black:

We should measure the prosperity of a nation not by the number of millionaires, but by the absence of poverty, the prevalence of health, the efficiency of the public schools, and the number of people who can and do read worthwhile books.

BBM Sir, as a BSA graduate major in Agricultural Education from UP Los Baños (1965), I am with you in agriculture even as I have been writing and fighting for our race, the Filipino people, blogging since 2000. I want you to know also that I am a self-taught blogger.

In 1975, non-digitally I began this fight when I was employed by the Forest Research Institute (FORI) – now the Ecosystems Research & Development Bureau (ERDB) – where I would become Founder & Editor in Chief of the 3 FORI publications: the monthly newsletter Canopy, quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop, and quarterly color magazine Habitat that I patterned after the American National Geographic.

In January 2000, I was engaged as WFH (Writer From Home) by the India-based International Crops Research Institute (ICRISAT) that was then headed by now-PH Secretary of Agriculture William Dar. From Mr Dar, the hopeful slogan of ICRISAT was “Science with a human face.”

Along with Mr Dar, my desire is that, with science applied, the poor we shall not always have with us!

In 2011, I received from UPLB Alumni Association (UPLBAA) the “Outstanding Alumnus for Creative Writing.” I was the first to receive such award, and the only one up to now. I cannot thank Elpidio “Pids” L Rosario as UPLBAA head enough! Already, at that time, ICRISAT had published 3 of my science books; I cannot thank ICRISAT enough!

Why am I telling you all this? To help the Secretary of Agriculture fight poverty as well as climate change. Via an Agriculture Digital Library that needs to be set up. BBM, Sir, you could easily assign a multi-billion-peso budget to it!

“Ang Bagong BBM” is that new digital library, my suggestion to you, BBM Sir – but I must acknowledge an intellectual debt from the former Director General of ICRISAT, Mr Dar. He called the digital library “Open Academy for Philippine Agriculture” (OpAPA); I borrowed from OpAPA, which I now call “Ang Bagong BBM” – to which everyone can share their intellectualizations.

So, BBM, Sir? When do we start building this new cellphone-ready knowledge library? Ready when you are!@517

“Brain Power To The People!” PH’s Next Secretary Of Agriculture Should Be A Scientist & Must Adopt William Dar’s Animating Mantra “Science With A Human Face” For Me To Intellectually Support Him!

With this essay, this UP Los Baños alumnus and everyday blogger even at 81+ practicing his original brainchild “Communication for Village Development in the 21^st Century” (CoViD21) – for dreams must never die! I challenge all PH bodies that have to do with agricultural research & development (R&D) to demonstrate any single technology (process or product) with at least 3 CoViD21 simultaneous objectives: fight unhealthy foods, fight farmer poverty, and fight climate change!

“Science with a human face” was the mantra of now-Department of Agriculture (DA) head William Darwhen he was Director General (DG) of the India-based International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-AridTropics (ICRISAT), 2000-2014. I am issuing this public challenge today, responding to Facebook criticisms of Gus Molina& Jose Reaño (GM&JR), which to me are anti-PH progress:
(images: “CPU Mind” from Larastock, larastock.com; “William Dar inspiring assembled people” from PNA, pna.gov.ph)

Instead of opening our Big Mouth, let us open our Big Brain!

Today, my brainstorm is:

“Fertilizer-Free Farming.”

Now then, GM&JR, since you have appeared very negative about the current PH Agriculture total situation, let me challenge you with my brand of “Science with a human face.” I dare you to be the CO-Supervising Scientists of a new R&D project:

“Miracle Rice 300 Regenerative Agriculture Of The Los Baños Science Community.”

I will be the Project Manager. You will arrange for a 2-5 ha of farm for a techno demo, going for 300 cavans/ha. You have properties in Bay, Laguna and as Supervising Scientists, you will be the first to witness, just in case, the failure of my farmer brain. Ah, but I am sure science will show its smiling human face with this brain-splash of mine!

Bay, Laguna is the perfect site for aggie brain-shows because it lies literally next door to the Los Baños Science Community, which is composed of 7 institutions: ASEAN Centre for Biodiversity, International Potato Center, IRRI, PCAARRD, PhilRice Los Baños Station, SEARCA, and UP Los Baños.

My more memorable name for my GM&JR proposal is “Lazy Juan Farming” – because it:

(1)   Eliminates plowing, harrowing & leveling

(2)   Eliminates transplanting

(3)   Multiplies yield of any crop

(4)   Multiplies net income of the farmer

(5)   Eliminates chemical fertilizers & pesticides – zero greenhouse gases!

This science-based brainstorm of mine is actually giving “Brain Power To the People!” where they live and farm.

This fertilizer-free farming method had actually beenquietly practiced for about 40 years by my brother-in-law Enso Casasos in my hometown Asingan, Pangasinan. (I have been writing about it in my blog Towards A New Eden, Blogspot.com.)

Total funds may be P570,000, including professional fees and digital instruments. We will need digital cameras with artificial intelligence capabilities, laptops, Internet connections – so that in subsequent encounters, communication/advice can be digital yet visual. We can ask Mr Dar and/or the DA for funding.

So, GM&JR, will you accept my Lazy Juan Challenge? To Good be the Glory!@517