Why Dr. Romulo G. Davide is someone to look up to
They rose. They lifted others.
A National Scientist who placed agricultural science in the hands of Filipino farmers and educators, turning research into practical help for the people.
There are scientists whose discoveries remain inside laboratories and scientific journals.
Then there are scientists like Dr. Romulo G. Davide, who took science out into the fields—and placed it directly into the hands of Filipino farmers.
Born in Argao, Cebu in 1934, Davide understood farming not simply as an academic subject. He grew up knowing the hardships of rural life.
He eventually became one of the Philippines' foremost agricultural scientists, specializing in plant pathology and nematology—the study of microscopic worms, some of which attack plant roots and can severely damage crops.
His pioneering research earned him recognition as the Father of Philippine Nematology.
But Davide did not pursue science simply for recognition.
He wanted it to solve the problems of farmers.
Science That Reached The Farm
Davide's research on fungi that naturally attack destructive nematodes led to the development of BIOCON, the first Philippine biological control product against nematode pests.
It gave farmers a practical alternative to expensive and highly toxic chemical nematicides and could be used to protect crops including vegetables, bananas, potatoes, citrus, pineapple and rice.
That was already an important scientific contribution.
But what Davide did next tells us even more about the man.
He Turned Farmers Into “Farmer-Scientists”
In 1994, Davide was named an Outstanding Agricultural Scientist by the Department of Agriculture.
The award came with P500,000.
He could have regarded the money simply as the reward for decades of scientific work.
Instead, he put the money back into Filipino farmers.
He used it to launch what became the Farmer-Scientist Training Program.
His idea was remarkably empowering.
Don't simply tell farmers what to do.
Teach them how to discover for themselves what works.
Farmers learned through actual field experiments. They compared methods, studied their crops, learned better production techniques and gained knowledge about managing and marketing what they produced.
They became not merely recipients of agricultural advice but farmer-scientists.
The program proved so valuable that in 2008 the national government adopted it for wider implementation.
Its impact eventually reached approximately 70,000 Filipino farmers.
A Teacher Who Multiplied Himself
Davide's legacy did not end with farmers.
For decades at the University of the Philippines Los Baños, he trained and mentored students in plant pathology and nematology.
Many of those students and mentees themselves became leaders in these scientific fields.
That may be one of the most meaningful measures of an educator's life:
He did not just create knowledge.
He created people who would carry that knowledge forward.
A Life Recognized
In 2012, Dr. Davide received the Ramon Magsaysay Award.
The award recognized something central to why he belongs in Filipinos to Look Up To: his determination to place the power and discipline of science in the hands of Filipino farmers—helping them increase their harvests, strengthen their communities and rediscover dignity in their work.
Then, in 2024, the Philippines bestowed upon him its highest honor for a scientist:
National Scientist Of The Philippines.
But perhaps the most revealing thing about Romulo Davide is what he said when accepting the Magsaysay Award.
He shared the honor with the men and women who had worked with him to improve the lives of farmers—especially poor farmers in upland communities.
That tells us something important.
His greatest achievement was not simply becoming a great scientist.
It was using science to lift others.
And that is exactly what this series celebrates.