FRANCISCO ABALOS
Frank majored in Animal Husbandry when he was studying at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos. He joined the Green Revolution staff at Nayong Pilipino as livestock specialist. When the staff were reorganized into field teams, he was assigned as member of the team in Quezon. His primary responsibility was to look after the integrated program in the municipality of Candelaria.
He was basically a technical guy. At the drop of a coin or a beer bottle, if you choose, since beer drinking was his favorite vice, he could deliver inputs about how to raise chickens, pigs, cows, goats, carabaos or water buffaloes. He had all the skills of a good animal husbandry major: castrating animals; selecting stock; feeding hogs and chickens.
I was ahead of him by a year in college, but we were classmates in one or two subjects and probably more because I was among the irregulars, those who would attend classes as they pleased. Or those who got distracted by life outside the classroom and they would fail in their subjects in exchange for some gains in out-of-school experiences. Translation: hanging around with fraternity brothers and getting pointers how to be streetwise; joining protest actions; going to nearby villages for some rural life immersions which would end inevitably to discussion about the possibility of agrarian revolution; wondering how a cosmic God could possibly care about what you think, reading and discussing with close friends, even if these were not required, the works of Sarte, Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, etc.; hold book review sessions at the Chem dept corridor as the rest of the campus were busy with their own distractions on Friday nights, and so on.
In college, Frank earned the monicker, "Kawawang Koboy," after his favorite song. He would sing, whistle and hum it at the drop of a hat. This guy limped and the original singer of the song, Fred Panopio, also had a short leg. I believe that was the connection. He was also a member of a rodeo team which had to test its skills in throwing down bulls in a yearly contests of masculinity and male ego. This guy would walk in with his limp and the whole crowd would sing his favorite song, "Kawawang Cowboy."
He was around 30 years old at that time he joined the Crazy Co. At that young age, he sat at the foot of the masters, the gurus from the community development pioneering days. He was successively mentored in the team by such gurus as Pio Almodiel, Kaka Dimaano, Nards Belen, Bitoy Ramos.
One important thing he learned. which was not taught in Community Development textbooks, was this:
-Know thy Mayor. Get all the facts about him even his vices. Be close with him. Stick to him like a leech.
In that way he will come to accept you as a friend and he can listen better to your "core messages," a
favorite phrase among us during the period.
Unfortunately, in fully integrating with the Mayor, Frank forgot to tell him about the core messages of his development mission. He spent a lot of time drinking with the Mayor and going with him to every cockfight in town. He was the one transformed by the Mayor into a drunkard and cockpit habitue.
We pulled him out from Candelaria and quarantined him in Nayong Pilipino for two weeks so he would unlearn all the things he got from close association with the Mayor. We all took turns to reconfigure the guy so he could be a development worker once again.
He emerged from all the counseling sessions to become among the best fieldworker in the organization. Candelaria became one of the model Project Compassion municipalities. It was visited by the UNICEF Representative, Mrs. Mimi, an indication that he won the trust and confidence of the entire Crazy Co. in his ability to mobilize support for children through sheer hard work at convincing the Mayor and other political leaders, along with relevant government officers.
I recall shedding a tear or two when news reached me abroad that he died due to heart attack. Frank Abalos was definitely among the last of the great fieldworkers in the 70s and 80s. May his tribe stop decreasing!
Frank majored in Animal Husbandry when he was studying at the University of the Philippines at Los Banos. He joined the Green Revolution staff at Nayong Pilipino as livestock specialist. When the staff were reorganized into field teams, he was assigned as member of the team in Quezon. His primary responsibility was to look after the integrated program in the municipality of Candelaria.
He was basically a technical guy. At the drop of a coin or a beer bottle, if you choose, since beer drinking was his favorite vice, he could deliver inputs about how to raise chickens, pigs, cows, goats, carabaos or water buffaloes. He had all the skills of a good animal husbandry major: castrating animals; selecting stock; feeding hogs and chickens.
I was ahead of him by a year in college, but we were classmates in one or two subjects and probably more because I was among the irregulars, those who would attend classes as they pleased. Or those who got distracted by life outside the classroom and they would fail in their subjects in exchange for some gains in out-of-school experiences. Translation: hanging around with fraternity brothers and getting pointers how to be streetwise; joining protest actions; going to nearby villages for some rural life immersions which would end inevitably to discussion about the possibility of agrarian revolution; wondering how a cosmic God could possibly care about what you think, reading and discussing with close friends, even if these were not required, the works of Sarte, Kierkegaard, Albert Camus, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, etc.; hold book review sessions at the Chem dept corridor as the rest of the campus were busy with their own distractions on Friday nights, and so on.
In college, Frank earned the monicker, "Kawawang Koboy," after his favorite song. He would sing, whistle and hum it at the drop of a hat. This guy limped and the original singer of the song, Fred Panopio, also had a short leg. I believe that was the connection. He was also a member of a rodeo team which had to test its skills in throwing down bulls in a yearly contests of masculinity and male ego. This guy would walk in with his limp and the whole crowd would sing his favorite song, "Kawawang Cowboy."
He was around 30 years old at that time he joined the Crazy Co. At that young age, he sat at the foot of the masters, the gurus from the community development pioneering days. He was successively mentored in the team by such gurus as Pio Almodiel, Kaka Dimaano, Nards Belen, Bitoy Ramos.
One important thing he learned. which was not taught in Community Development textbooks, was this:
-Know thy Mayor. Get all the facts about him even his vices. Be close with him. Stick to him like a leech.
In that way he will come to accept you as a friend and he can listen better to your "core messages," a
favorite phrase among us during the period.
Unfortunately, in fully integrating with the Mayor, Frank forgot to tell him about the core messages of his development mission. He spent a lot of time drinking with the Mayor and going with him to every cockfight in town. He was the one transformed by the Mayor into a drunkard and cockpit habitue.
We pulled him out from Candelaria and quarantined him in Nayong Pilipino for two weeks so he would unlearn all the things he got from close association with the Mayor. We all took turns to reconfigure the guy so he could be a development worker once again.
He emerged from all the counseling sessions to become among the best fieldworker in the organization. Candelaria became one of the model Project Compassion municipalities. It was visited by the UNICEF Representative, Mrs. Mimi, an indication that he won the trust and confidence of the entire Crazy Co. in his ability to mobilize support for children through sheer hard work at convincing the Mayor and other political leaders, along with relevant government officers.
I recall shedding a tear or two when news reached me abroad that he died due to heart attack. Frank Abalos was definitely among the last of the great fieldworkers in the 70s and 80s. May his tribe stop decreasing!
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