He was born on 17 Sept 1940 to simple folks: Dionisio Hilario (farmer) and Sixta Agapito (housewife).
And now, the wonders of it all:
Before Grade 1 –
He wondered if he could teach himself to read the Ilocano magazine Bannawag – and he could.
High School – He
wondered what the Reader’s Digest
could teach him – and he learned how to be creative in American English.
College – He
wondered at UP Los Baños if he could become the Editor In Chief of the student
newspaper Aggie Green & Gold (AGG).
Nestor Maniebo Pestelos became
Editor and made him AGG Tagalog Editor. So, he became the first Ilocano who
became the Tagalog Editor of a student paper!
Before college graduation
– He wondered if he could pass PH’s very first Teacher’s Exam, and he could, 80.6%.
After college – He
wondered if he could teach at the Asingan
High School, and he could.
1966 – He wondered
if he could handle at UPLB the lab class Horticulture
1 (not his major), and he could.
1967 – He wondered
what would happen if he distributed copies of the open letter from his would-be
daughter, “What Did You Do In The War,
Daddy?” This was questioning the “Loyalty Day” celebration of UP Los
Baños. It is no wonder that he was kicked out of UPLB!
1968 – He wondered
if 1,270 km away from Laguna, Xavier
University College of Agriculture (XUCA) would accept him as a teacher, and
XUCA did. At XUCA, he wondered how the
students would respond to his lectures on Organic
Agriculture, a historical first, and they welcomed it. One of his
students, Nicanor “Nicky” Perlas
became a Right Livelihood Award
recipient years later.
1969-1973 – He
just wondered about the world not paying attention to the Ilocano Wonder Boy
From Asingan.
1974-1975 – He
wondered if he could create excellent copy for advertisers as a copywriter of
the Pacifica Publicity Bureau, and
he could.
1975-1980 – He
wondered if he could be the typewriter-based simultaneous founder, writer, editor
& publisher of the 3 publications of the Forest
Research Institute: monthly Canopy,
quarterly technical journal Sylvatrop,
and quarterly color magazine Habitat
– and he could.
1985-1988 – He
wondered if he could learn to use the personal computer for his writing and
editing – and he could.
2003-2008 – He
wondered if he could be The Digital Editor In Chief of the 3-years late
Philippine Journal of Crop Science and
bring it up to international standards in quality and quantity – and he could.
2011 – He wondered
what surprises UP Los Baños had in store for him and, in 2011, he received the
award “Outstanding Alumnus For Creative
Writing” from the alumni association. So far the one and only in the
entire UP System.
Thank
God, Frank A Hilario has continued to wonder…@
