Tribute to Dr. Aloysius Baes

Here's a short tribute to an extraordinary scientist and an exemplary environmental advocate, Dr. Aloysius Baes, reposted from www.bulatlat.com. This article was compiled from various testmonies, written and spoken, during two parangal (tribute) held for Ochie last December 23 and January. In the picture [below] is his mother, speaking of her son's life before a full audience at the Aldaba Hall in the Univeristy of the Philippines.

Dr. Aloysius Baes: Scientist, Composer and Revolutionary Par Excellence

Heroes are known not by how they died, but by how they lived in the service of the people to the very end. Dr. Aloysius "Ochie" Baes, 58, former Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commissioner and environmentalist, consistently embodied this principle until he died.

His passing away at the National Kidney Institute last Dec. 21 merited an obituary in the Philippine Daily Inquirer, but there was definitely more to Ochie, as friends and colleagues called him, than what could be immediately said in a few concise lines.

A scientist by profession and an activist by choice, Ochie exemplified the best of what the iskolar ng bayan (people’s scholar) could offer to the country and to the world. At the tributes held last Dec. 23 and Jan. 29 at the Baes residence in Laguna and the Aldaba Hall in the University of the Philippines, Quezon City , respectively, Ochie's family, friends, colleagues and comrades were all brought together by narratives of his short but multi-faceted life: As a son and brother, student activist and revolutionary, Martial Law survivor, chemist and professor, commissioner, consultant, writer, poet, composer, musician, environmental advocate and scientist for the people.

Famous warrior

Dr. Aloysius Baes used to kid friends about the origins of his first name, claiming in jest that he was named after a mighty Greek god and - if still incredulous - a Nobel Prize winner who discovered a new chemical element.

The truth was that “Aloysius” is a variation of the name “Louis” which means “famous warrior.” Later, this name would exemplify much of what Ochie would become as a student leader and as a scientist.

Ochie was the eldest in a brood of four boys and one girl, a Boy Scout and proverbial “Mama's boy” born into a traditional, middle-class family. His parents had a piano at home and shared their love of music with the parish and with their children. Little did they then realize that this gift of the arts fostered upon their children would much later on reverberate in the hearts of countless activists. [Read the rest here].