The Top and Nothing But

Raul Agner

His father, a retired overseas musician, has all the reasons to play one cool triumphant rock anthem on his guitar or keyboard these days. So does his Alma Mater, Adamson University. For Levi Layague Miranda has just nailed one feat in his relatively quiet academic life: garner the topmost spot in the latest board exams for chemical engineers given last April 21-23, 2008 at the Manuel L. Quezon University in Manila.
Equally proud are her mother and two siblings who saw in him an average student who was nevertheless serious with his studies in spite of a sickly frame. After third year at the Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, he was refused reenrollment after incurring a second long absence due to illness. When he applied for transfer at Adamson, he was readily admitted and went on to graduate on October 2007.
Levi was born on November 29, 1983 in Las Pinas City to Liberato Miranda, a Batangueno, and Sylvia Layague, an Ilocana. He attended high school in Molino, Cavite. After his stint at the PLM, he moved to Adamson in June 2004 where he had to repeat his third year studies to catch up on the demanding chemical engineering course. His enjoyment of a full academic scholarship for two semesters meant he was able to cope up with the rigorous studies. Then the course became just too heavy that he couldn’t maintain the grades required by the scholarship program. He didn’t enjoy that benefit in his last years in the school but he enjoyed studying anyway, thermodynamics being his favorite subject. When pressed for his favorite teacher, he declined to name one but hastened to say that all the professors he studied under were helpful and very professional. It also helped that the university’s facilities were excellent enough to respond to the needs of the students. These included the library, where he loved reading technical books, the laboratories that had new equipment, the air-conditioned classrooms and the relatively spacious campus.
When the results of the board exam were released, none was more surprised than himself because he didn’t expect to land at the top. Aside from his generally average performance in college, he found the exam really hard not even the one-year review he undertook was a guarantee he’d make it. That’s all water under the bridge now for this simple Adamsonian who chose a course that was her mother’s frustration (only a year short of her graduation at UST). One thing is sure though, he was not wanting in hard work, dedication and discipline. At the moment, he’s just happy to have made a milestone for himself and the university. Not used to being lavished with attention and praise, he appears a bit awkward when congratulated but acknowledges them the best way he can.
On May 25, 2008, he will join other new chemical engineers for the formal oath taking at the Manila Hotel. His proud family will be around to bask in the honor of his rare first-place achievement. The whole Adamson community warmly congratulates him for bringing a big honor to the institution. All Adamsonians at the moment are just happy and proud to be members of the tribe of Levi.

Perched On An Elevated Landscape

Raul Agner

It was a long and winding path that Christian Ceasar Pineda had to tread before he was finally able to set foot on a more pleasant landscape. His difficult climb to the second uppermost spot in the March 2008 Landscape Architect Licensure Examination goes back to when he was but a kid.
A 1994 BS Architecture graduate of Adamson University, Chris and his siblings grew up shuttling between their mother’s and their father’s – sometimes their uncle’s – house after their parents separated. He was barely four then and this moving about extended all the way to his college days. Born in Quezon City in 1972 to Ernesto Pineda and Nancy Evelyn Pineda, both of Pampanga, he graduated valedictorian from the Ramon Avancena High School in 1989. He then enrolled in Adamson, enjoying a full PESFA (Private Education Student Financial Assistance) scholarship from the beginning until he finished his course.
Today, Chris Pineda is based in the Middle East working for WS Atkins, an internationally renowned structural engineering, design and architecture company. He is the Senior Landscape Architect there and is happy to be in the center of all the mega architectural buzz and boom in full throttle that part of the globe. Sure the job pays well but it is in being able to give something big as a Filipino and as an Adamsonian that he finds most fulfilling. But in spite of the lofty perch he is in now, this Falcon cannot forget his stay in the University. He reminisces with joy and pride the good old days in Adamson when he and his friends had to help each other out especially during the advent of the feared thesis defense. Spending late nights in other friends’ houses, sweating out on projects, cramming for the deliberations and developing teamwork and camaraderie are valued memories. He and his friends even creatively fashioned a way of coaching each other during the thesis deliberations by signaling to each other keywords that instantly recalled answers to difficult questions. “The difficult times,” he says, “are the most memorable. My days in Adamson were very straightforward. I wouldn't really say there were a lot of happy moments. I was there for a purpose, to study and graduate so I can have a good job. I even enrolled during summers so I could graduate in five years.”
Asked for some personal reflection, he waxes philosophical. He likens life to an architectural structure where his parents who gave him good education are the foundation, his siblings the shell – walls and roof that give protection, his friends and society in general the landscape that gives color and meaning to life and God the terra firma where he stands. “Take away any of these and I’ll surely crumble,” he states.
His message to fellow Adamsonians: “We all have the potential to make a difference. No matter how small or simple our contribution may be, the ripple effect will be enormous. We are Adamsonians.”
Architect Pineda may be up high in the firmament of early success but his feet remain rooted in the ground. He is a precious addition to the numerous alumni the current crop of Adamson students can draw strength and inspiration from.

Angles: A Photo-Essay

At night, on the wall next to the ST gate, the names of the university and the congregation that runs it, and the year the school was founded glow with silvery luminosity. Stainless, each letter is backlit by neon tubes that follow its contour. Not quite diamond but very close to it, the color of the letters may remind us of the 75th anniversary of the school last 2007.
The whole assemblage is an interesting subject for amateur photography and so, one evening, I clicked my merry way, unmindful of the questioning look of some passers-by while relishing the ethereality of the moment.
Viewed up front, the whole text is easily readable. Shot up close from different angles, they hardly make any literal sense but present a different reality that borders on the abstract and purely conceptual, even surreal. Each shot can stand on its own and engender many associations and interpretations. It is amateur photography imitating art.
It is also photography imitating life. Life is a camera that allows people to view reality from the angle they choose, hence the multiple and differing points of view, opinions, beliefs, takes and spins anywhere you go, with tolerance and respect making their peaceful coexistence possible.
Huh! The letters brought us this far...

“Adamson University: 75 Touchstones At Year 75”

Raul Agner

Adamson University turned 75 last year. To mark this Diamond Jubilee, it commissioned a four-figure Jubilee sculpture which now graces the main building’s front yard. It also published and launched a coffee table book entitled “Adamson University: 75 Touchstones At Year 75” last February 5, 2007.
As the title suggests, the book gathers 75 stories in the university’s 75 years of existence in one sleek and elegant volume. Each is contained in a spread that is laid out with photographs, digital art and an accompanying write-up. The first for instance, entitled “The Adamopoulos Odyssey,” is an interesting graphic timeline retracing the journey of school founder George Lucas Adamopoulos from Greece, to Australia (where he changed his name to Adamson) and to the Philippines. Another article, “Adamson-Ozanam Educational Institutions 1964,” presents the turnover of Adamson University to the Congregation of the Mission or the Vincentians. It is illustrated with a huge blown-up photo of George Lucas (president for 32 years) and incoming president Fr. Leandro I. Montañana, C.M., signing documents with two other representatives witnessing. “AddyoU: Branding Adamson,” “The Evolution of the University Seal,” “Art in the Everyday Campus,” and “Campus Cuisine,” are some of the titles of the other articles in the book.
The book is not written as one continuing narrative but as a collection of easily digestible stories that are separate from yet related to each other. The reader can therefore start reading anywhere he wants. Written by a team of writers that includes Fr. Gregg L Bañaga, Jr., C.M., Fr. Francis Cruz, C.M., Raul D. Agner, Sharleen P. Banzon, Bianca S. Consunji and Kannika Claudine D. Peña, the writing style hews close to the techniques of creative nonfiction: fresh, playful, concise and loaded with information and imagery.
Book designer Manny Chaves, who also acted as editor, did the layout and design. Manny came up with a style that approximates the vibrant rhythms of motion graphics and advertising; really very hip and contemporary. Because it is colorful, generous with breathing space and balanced all throughout, it is not a boring read. Vintage photos from the university Archives provide defining moments and memories of the school. The photographs of Mar Bustamante, At Maculangan and Fr. Francis Cruz and the digital art of Ryan Abela illustrate the pages with an unmistakably sharp and discerning eye.
“Adamson University: 75 Touchstones At Year 75” is available at the university’s bookstore.

Within Biting Distance

"Bamboo Boat," installation art by Gerry Leonardo, Feb. 2008, Cultural Center of the Philippines, Pasinaya 2008.

Raul Agner 4/29/08

On any given weekday high noon, human and vehicular traffic at Zobel and Mercedes Sts. in Ermita are at their heaviest. A good part of the student demographic from schools in the hood swarm to the row of kainan for their lunchtime refueling. Caught up in the dizzying swirl of hungry stomachs and eager intestines crisscrossing the narrow backstreets to pick the best hole-in-the-wall are the hapless motorists taking a short-cut route to San Marcelino. From perhaps a smooth 50-kph sweep of Ayala bridge, they decelerate to pushcart speed on left turn to people-clogged Mercedes and Zobel. The scorching heat or the drenching torrential rains, whatever the case, raises the whole commingling one notch higher to inconvenience.
Even so, there's a fiesta mood in this quotidian chaos. Smiling faces, school uniforms (ditched on "wash Wednesdays" in favor of chic, colorful casuals or emo-gothic statements), personal accessories, school thingamajigs, smoking barbecue stands, vehicles of different colors and shapes, lingering election campaign buntings and posters - all make up a psychedelic assemblage reminiscent of a Joya abstract or a Pollock "dripwork." If a background musical score were to be supplied, any opus with displaced tonality would be hands-down appropriate.
Food counters display a slew of mouthwatering offerings to choose from, ranging from the succulent adobo to the hot and spicy Bikol express, from the crispy chicken to the sauce-dipped barbecue and from the crunchy half-cooked toge to the soupy mongo. But reality TV-type hindrances must first be hurdled before one can finally enjoy a piping hot meal, including dodging oncoming vehicles, steering clear of sidewalk grilling stands, vying for the food attendants' attention and jockeying for tables and chairs in trip-to-Jerusalem fashion. Once these are accomplished, then he can settle on the hard-earned chair and put the grub where the mouth is, in partial fulfillment of one's ego's requirements (parang thesis title ah?).
Yes, "in partial fulfillment" because food, wherever or whenever taken, satisfies only half of the human person, the body, but not the soul, which needs a totally different kind of nourishment. And while one won’t find such nourishment in this crowded nook of Ermita, it's not like you'll have to spend a fortune in order to enjoy it. In not a few cases, they can be had for free or at a minimal expense. All it takes is a nosy detective's perspicacity to find them. Art, literature, music, dance, architecture, theater, film - all food for the soul you’ll surely agree (in addition of course to your religious beliefs and practices) - are around every which way you look; and what better place to start than the vicinity of Adamson University.
For the architecture buff, the area around the university provides an eyeful. The dilapidated Meralco building along San Marcelino was a beautiful art deco structure in its heyday but even in its present state of rot, some elements remain artistically pleasing. On the extreme left of its façade is a big cement bas-relief by Francesco Monti consisting of female figures composed in an upward-left movement. Appearing sooty, one cannot quite make out what the figures are doing but its sheer size must have added a touch of class to the building when it was new. There are other smaller sculptures that can be seen in some wall niches and the decorative pattern beneath the second story overhang is quite pleasing. This is balanced by the rooftop iron grills and the main entrance iron gate. Monti was an Italian sculptor who taught at UST before the war. His works can also be seen gracing the exterior of the Manila Metropolitan Theater, itself a fine member of the art deco family that once included the now forever gone Jai-alai building, its disappearance courtesy of then Manila Mayor Lito Atienza. The hood teems with neoclassical stuff too. Easy shoo-ins as best representatives are the Post Office, the National Museum and the Tourism buildings, the Supreme Court, Department of Justice and U.P. Manila buildings. Our own SV building belongs to this grand architectural breed and tradition.
Visual arts groupies have many venues to visit. First off is the National Museum where the humongous Juan Luna masterpiece, the "Spoliarium," hangs as a proud testament to world class Filipino artistry. If one is looking for an equally impressive Filipino mural, there’s a Botong Francisco at the Manila City Hall and a freshly restored one at the Fleur-de-lis Theater of St. Paul University, Manila. In-house, we have the three newly acquired Amorsolos, all bequeathed by Sofia Adamson, late wife of the late George Athos Adamson, former Dean of the College of Engineering. Hunting for contemporary art is a no-brainer; all one has to do is go to nearby commercial and alternative galleries like the Galeria de las Islas and NCCA Galleries in Intramuros, the Kanlungan ng Sining at the Luneta, or the Philam Life building and Hiraya Gallery along U.N. Ave. Bobi Valenzuela, well-known and respected art curator, and Manny Chaves, his assistant, used to hold court at the Hiraya during the ‘80s and early ‘90s. Hiraya, still open at present, used to be an exhibition space that showed works that were not only well-crafted but also rich, relevant and progressively Filipino in content. Some of the best contemporary Filipino artists came out of that cul-de-sac: Santi Bose, Imelda Endaya, Emong Borlongan, Charlie Co, Nune Alvarado, Noel Cuizon, Mark Justiniani, Bobby Feleo to name a few. Skip the Mabini area tourist art galleries for they have been painting to death the same subjects over and over again from way way back.
Music enthusiasts also have different venues to pick the preferred free musical fare. Fridays at Paco Park is concert day with both amateur and professional performers giving out their best. Classical pieces, timeless kundiman, pop music are some tunes to sit down to in the quaint and airy ambience of the former cemetery. Sundays at the Luneta open-air theater are concert days too but with a more variegated offering. If you’re lucky, you can catch such rare gems as Joey Ayala, Grace Nono, Lester Demetillo, The Wuds, Susan Fernandez Magno, Noel Cabangon or Bayang Barrios. But they come few and far between. Last April 6, 2008, park habitués were treated to a four-hour music and dance concert by a cross-section of the best cultural groups and individuals within and outside Metro-Manila. What a rich variety of Pinoy talents and artistry on the occasion of “Concert at the Park’s” 30th anniversary.
Museums, where our Filipino soul can best be felt, are also in the vicinity. With the National Museum just a few brisk steps away, Adamsonians couldn’t get any luckier. With its new addition – the Museum of the Filipino People housed in the old but refurbished former Finance building, the neoclassical twin of the Tourism building which in turn was the former Agriculture building right up front – the place is a cultural gold mine waiting to be explored. In Intramuros, the culture-hungry Adamsonian can visit the San Agustin Museum, the Archdiocesan Museum of Manila and inside Fort Santiago, the Rizal Shrine. Along Roxas Boulevard stands the Museo Pambata beside the U.S. Embassy. In case one has a day to spare, he can purposely go to the Cultural Center of the Philippines not only for its shows but also to see the beautiful non-conventional set-up of the Museo ng Kalinangang Pilipino. In the CCP galleries and hallways, one has the added bonus of seeing ongoing art exhibitions by select contemporary visual artists.
Admittedly, theater is rarely free but tickets are not always prohibitive. If one is really interested in experiencing it, then he wouldn’t really mind the cost. An alternative to theater is performance art done usually by visual artists who act out their ideas and convictions alone or with the support of fellow artists or friends. These are for free. Last April 25, 2008, the Kanlungan ng Sining at the Luneta, home of the Art Association of the Philippines, held the “Tupada,” a performance art event joined by artists coming from different parts of the world.
There are more in the vicinity for the Adamsonian’s educational uplift. Public art, historical buildings, old churches, plazas, and many other cultural events abound. So next time you feel like spending another hour on a TV gossip show or get that itch to play a round of DotA (Defense of the Ancients!) or any other mind-zapping computer game, skip it. Think of these alternatives. Think about the finer things in life that your soul badly thirsts for. You may not realize it but you may be already culturally dehydrated and in danger of spiritual meltdown.
Food for the body, culture for the soul - no diet could be more perfectly balanced than this.