MASIPAG Scientist Bags Bayaning Pilipino Award

In recognition of his outstanding contribution to the small farmers in Mindanao, Perfecto "Ka Pec" Vicente, scientist and first project manager of MASIPAG won the 2004 Gawad Geny Lopez Jr. Bayaning Pilipino Awards last September 30 at the ABS-CBN Compound in Quezon City.

The Bayaning Pilipino Awards is given by ABS-CBN and UGAT Foundation to ordinary men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving their fellow countrymen, especially those disadvantaged sectors. Ka Pec, as he is fondly called in MASIPAG, won the Regional Awards and qualified to be a grand finalist in the national competition.

Ka Pec's years of dedication to teaching and guiding the small farmers of MASIPAG in rice breeding and sustainable agriculture qualified him to the award, along with his unwavering faith to God, and his love for his country and its people.

"I believe that Ka Pec is a true farmer's hero," said Precioso Tapitan, chairperson of PMCB Zamboanga-Sibugay and 1997 Bayaning Pilipino awardee. "He dedicated his life to teaching the small farmers and helping them achieve a better life."

Ka Pec is a soil scientist and a former instructor and researcher in the University of the Philippines Los Baños. When MASIPAG was founded in the mid-1980s aiming to develop farmer-centered alternatives to the then prevalent chemical farming, Ka Pec joined a pool of concerned scientists who guided the farmers in farm research and rice breeding. He left the university but continued his profession in the fields, teaching and developing farmer-breeders.

MASIPAG's thrust to conserve and protect the vast range of traditional varieties of rice in the Philippines made a significant headway due to Ka Pec. He collected rice varieties that are fast disappearing because of the monoculture practice the Green Revolution brought about, and improved and developed these varieties. Most of these improved varieties are now distributed among farmers all over the country.

"It is essential to develop farming alternatives that are suitable to the farmers' needs so that the quality of their lives would improve too," said Ka Pec. "This award gives recognition, not to me, but to these ongoing efforts in the field."

"I, along with other scientists and experts only serve as a conduit of technical knowledge that enriches the inherent knowledge of the farmers. They are the true heroes of this land because they cultivate the food we eat, and they nourish the rich resources that God has given us."

Last May 26, Ka Pec was awarded the MASIPAG Lifetime Service Award during the MASIPAG 5th General Assembly in acknowledgment of his dedication to improving the small farmers' quality of life and advocating their rights. #