HE HAS JOINED HIS GREAT ANCESTORS

Eulogy in honor of Brod Oscar Monroe Hamada ’60 UPLB during the

 UP Beta Sigma Fraternity’s final rites in his honor on June 5, 2008

By Brod Victor O. Ramos, ‘62aUPD

DENR Secretary, 1995-98

             I first met Oscar Monroe Hamada in 1987 when I left the corporate sector and joined the DENR as Undersecretary for Operations. I still did not know him then as a fraternity brother. We were reorganizing the DENR to decentralize its operations. To follow a transparent process, Secretary Factoran required all the prospective officers to take tests conducted by the DAP and the ATENEO. The results of those tests brought my attention to Brod Oca. He was one of those identified with potential for promotion. His peers consistently had a good word for him too. He was then a District Forester in Palawan.

            My ASEC for Luzon Yoyong Magdaraog interviewed him in Palawan. He was impressed with Oca’s track record. When he found out that he was a Cordilleran he asked him how it felt to be so far away from home. In his humble way, he just shrugged it off as part of the work to accept any assignment however far or difficult it may be. Because of this footnote, we tried not to assign mid to lower officers too far from their homes to allow them to maintain normal family ties.

            I had him promoted as the first CENRO of Baguio City. In a year’s time, he was promoted PENRO or Provincial Environment and Natural Resources Officer for Benguet. In another year, he was moved up again to Director III or Regional Technical Director for Forestry in the Cordillera Administrative Region. He was one of those who moved up consistently to their highest post during my 10-year stint in the DENR not because of fraternity ties but based on pure meritocracy.

            Having come from the private sector, I was the first in the bureaucracy to define Key Results Areas of frontline managers. I quantified performance monthly. The top performers were called Eagles. Brod Oca was a consistent Eagle. When I think about him today, I still see a soaring eagle.

            Two things stand out in my mind as defining his character.

First was his humble and self-effacing ways. He was not the type who had to raise his voice or make an impression to be heard or followed. You just know that he gets things done. He reminds me of Theodore Roosevelt’s advice to leaders: “Walk quietly but carry a big stick.” In Oca’s case, his kind of stick was his personal leadership skills.

            Our problem in Baguio at that time was the rampant squatting in forestlands. Frequently we would find a cluster of shacks put up overnight by a community of squatters with their own lawyers. Brod Oca would personally lead our teams to talk nicely with these squatters. But he was firm in loading back to our trucks all their worldly goods. To get the support of civil society, he was one of the organizers of the Baguio Regreening Movement. This NGO helped raise funds to fence most of the remaining pine forests in the city – thus effectively stopping the loss of pine trees in the summer capital. When you enjoy the scent of pine needles during your trips to Baguio, you have Brod Oca Hamada to thank for that.

            When he sees a problem he moves in quickly to solve it. When he was assigned as Regional Executive Director of Bicol, he found out that much of the budget was going to rentals. Before he retired, he made sure that all the various units had their own offices. He even built a multi-purpose hall for a dormitory, conference room and coop store.

            Second, he was proud and humbled by belonging to a clan with deep tribal heritage and traditions; a family with pioneering contributions to the history of Baguio.

His great grandfather was Chief Mateo Carino, the original owner of that real estate now called Camp John Hay. It was his family’s ancestral land. When the Americans colonized the Philippines, they took interest in old Mateo’s pastureland. Those undulating hills and old stands of pine trees would make an ideal rest and recreation area for the Americans when they escaped the summer heat of Manila. The old man Carino filed a complaint against the insular government. Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes himself penned the famous US Supreme Court decision that is now known in international law as The Mateo Carino Doctrine. It defined the “native rights” of tribal people. Today the doctrine had been used successfully as the legal basis for the rights applied for by the indigenous peoples of  Canada, United States, Australia and New Zealand.  The Mateo Carino doctrine is also enshrined in UNESCO’s Memory of the World Program to archive epochal decisions in the history of man.

            When we piloted in the Cordillera the idea of Secretary Factoran of a Philippine Indigenous People’s Ancestral Rights long before the Philippine Congress passed the IPRA law during my watch in the DENR, Brod Oca was already one of our principal officers in the Cordillera. But never did he influence our thinking on how the rights should be defined that would benefit himself or his family. A weaker character would have easily insinuated himself to the powers that be who happened to be close friends to him.

            His Japanese ancestry entered his blood stream when Reo Kitsi Hamada, one of the builders of Kennon Road during the American occupation, married one of the daughters of Mateo Carino. The best of Filipino and Japanese blood were apparently not enough. American blood had to join in.  This happened when Oseo Hamada made a mestiza Americana the mother of Brod Oca – making him a global man in its true essence. His first name is a concession to our Filipino culture. His middle name Monroe is American. And Hamada is clearly Japanese. Without this history, you will not enjoy as much the first rate Hamada restaurant at the Baguio Country Club, which was named to honor Oca’s father – Oseo Carino Hamada.

            We can now clearly see the outlines of Brod Oca’s journey in life. His career followed a peripatetic journey, starting in Baguio where he was born and got his early education. To Los Banos where he became a forester and a Beta Sigman. And to various ramparts of the country where he served his country well as a public servant for the environment. What propelled this journey was the constant struggle to synchronize the genetic imprints of three strong cultures – the Ibaloi blood of Mateo Carino, the pioneering blood of the Japanese Reo Kitsi Hamada and the mixed blood of the Monroes. If Brod Oca was at all confused by this confluence of varied influences in his life, he never showed it. He was always cool and settled on his confident ways. Perhaps because of this, he was always loyal to old friendships and brotherhoods. He is a brother you would want to have beside you when you have self-doubts. A friend who would sit to listen to your woes.

            Sixty-six is a young age to die. But Brod Oca suffered through his last years with a kidney problem. He deserves to rest. A wise man said that the purpose of life is not to live long or to become rich or famous. Not even to be happy. Life is meant to grow the soul. Every time we do a great deed for a fellow human being, that inner energy that the Chinese call yin gathers and thickens. And when the time comes to go, that spirit leaves our mortal body and joins the concert of other kindred spirits.  The soul lingers for a while among the people he loved and in the silence of the wilderness and quiet places before it joins our God Almighty.

            Brod Yongyong Afable, first cousin of Brod Oca, wrote it most succinctly in a poem posted in our website by Brod Willy “Tatang” Vergara:

            “The storm is over, the battle is won,

            The sky is silent, a star is born,

            I chance a dream for my mind at ease,

            And listen, the quiet of the seas.”

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From Ernie Tremor, UPLB'58:

     I will miss Oca terribly. We have been so close and there are tons of stories about our relationship - sad and funny.  Oca's mother was half American half Pinoy, and the father was half Japanese half Pinoy. I think the Pinoy side is native Mountain Province people.  Oca possessed intense love for the Fraternity.  During our time the Fraternity flourished as could be seen in the attached picture.

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From Pogs Gaspay, UPD'68:

     I join you in your sorrow. I got to know Oca Hamada as he was a Technical Regional Director then at DENR when I was the head of the EMB in 1996-97.  He was a good man and a good brod.  He and Buddy Batcagan were highly respected Forestry alumni brods at DENR.  And like any good ol' Baguio-bred boy was a formidable drinker, he-he.   We indeed will be greatly diminished by his death.  If you have a way of conveying to his family our condolences, please include my name in the list of brods who wish to offer their personal sympathies.

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From Cyrus Fagar, UPD'69:

    Oo nga. Oca was a brod in the true sense of the word.  We worked together during our stint with the Baguio-Benguet Beta Sigma Alumni Association in the 90's.  He was then the RED of the Cordilleras and we often had our meetings at the DENR in Pacdal.  Maganda 'yong lugar niya doon, palaging may pakain at painom every time the brods met.  We had lots of good times then.  He always had time for the brods even when he was so busy with all the work and politics that went with his position.  May his soul rest in peace.  He will be missed.

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From Sluggo Rigor, UPD'60:

     I remember Oca and am saddened.  Ka-batch ko siya.  Everytime we from Diliman would visit Los Banos, he would be the very friendly and hospitable host like you Ernie and the other great Aggie and Forestry brods.  We would always speak Ilocano with so much fun during jug-a-lugs.  He was also very helpful later on with his family's Midland Courier newspaper in Baguio where we used to advertise the VW and Radiowealth brands.  We will say a deeply-felt prayer for him and his family.

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From Babes Garcia, UPLB'??:

     Was reading posting sa 'tambayan ni malmon' and I believe related itong brod na ito kay Yongyong Afable UPD66 (dating information secretary ni Gloria Macapagal).  When I used to hang out with Yong in Baguio, we had visited his cousin's newspaper office and I remember the last name was Hamada.  Dko alam na may pinsan pala sya na brod.  He never mentioned this to me.  Ang mother ni Yong ay half Japanese and Igorot (Hamada side).

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From Ernie Tremor, UPLB'58:

    The newspaper (Midland Courier) was owned by the brother of the father of Oca Hamada, but Oca's father was either the editor or manager.  Oca's Mom was half American half Igorot (family name is Monroe), while the father was half Japanese half Igorot. They are definitely related. One of Oca's brothers may have married a Pampanguena. I remember they had a strawberry farm, so that every time Oca went home his Mom would send to us strawberry jam.  Oca was also a star basketball player.  Oca was more with Japanese features, but some of the brothers and sister looked Caucasian.

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From Winston Acevedo, UPD'61:

     Sad to know about the passing of Brod Oca Hamada.  I'm not sure if  I have met him during our visits to Los Banos in the 60's but I have heard of his name.  We pray for the repose of his soul and peace to his family and loved ones.

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From Victor Ramos, UPD'62:

     Our Los Banos chapter just conducted the final rites for Brod Oscar Hamada. I am sending herewith a copy of my eulogy.  Brods Rey Juan and Romy Acosta also delivered their eulogies.  A lot of brods (some coming as far as Bicol) attended the final rites for Brod Oca.  I also gave the wife a copy of the photo sent by Brod Ernie Tremor.  It was a picture of a 1963 Frat Ball by the Forestry brods.  I could not connect the young faces with the faces that I knew only in maturity.  I could only recognize Oca Hamada, Dick Delizo, Flor Tesoro, Moding Canave and Ernie Tremor.  I did not recognize Jun Galinato, Ben Battung and the others until I was told how they looked 45 years ago. The Hamada children appreciated receiving the photo.
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From Pogs Gaspay, UPD'68:

     Thanks Brod for leading the efforts of brods to honor Oca in his death.  Oca was one of the leading brods in your administration at DENR who warmly welcomed me to their fold in my stint as EMB Director.

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From Rene de Rueda, UPLB'64:

     Greetings of peace!

    This is in regards to the last government position of our late brod Oscar (Oca) Hamada, as appearing in our website.  Please be informed that our late brother Oca M. Hamada, UPLB'60, was a full- pledged Regional Executive Director (RED) with assignment in the Bicol Region (Region 5) at the time of his death.  Yes, he was a Regional Technical Director for Forestry prior to his promotion as Regional Executive Director. 

    As RED, he supervised the Forestry, Lands, Ecosystems Research and Protected Area Sectors, headed by the different Regional Technical Directors concerned.  In addition, he was considered as the primus inter pares for the line bureaus in the region, namely the Environmental Management Bureau and the Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau in Bicol Region (Region 5).

    Let us continue praying for the eternal repose of the soul of brod Oca, as well as the souls of our other dear departed fraternity brothers.  Thank you and God bless!

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