Ed was born Felipe Eduardo Arbas Macion on the 20th of September 1938 in Dumaguete City. For some reason, the Felipe was dropped early on. He was born to Beatriz Arbas and Maximo Mendez Macion and was the third of six siblings. Beata and Emoy, as they were called, provided for their family as butchers by selling fresh beef and pork meat through a rented stall in the city wet market. Ed spent a considerable part of his childhood helping at the stall, waking up at dawn to be at the peak of market retailing and speeding off to school thereafter. He finished primary and secondary schooling at the Foundation University and went on to graduate Cum Laude in 1960 from the Central Mindanao University with a degree in Agriculture. He was a talented writer, having been the Editor-in-Chief of the Musuan paper. Ed was first employed by Del Monte Philippines, an international fruit production company, as one of their Senior Research Specialists. His superior at the company was Pidong Sison, his future wife’s father. This was how Ed and Guia’s paths crossed, and on June 12, 1964, at the Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Philips, Bukidnon, their union was completed through marriage.
Soon after the wedding, before Joseph was born, Ed left for the University of Hawaii at Manoa, on a company scholarship. He completed his Masters’ Degree in Agronomy in 1967 and returned to Bukidnon to find his first born son a full year old. He stayed on with the company until 1970, when he abruptly left for Dumaguete, with Guia (or Gay) and three young children in tow. He taught at his Alma Mater for less than a year, and was soon hired by Dole Philippines, another multinational pineapple producing company in Southern Mindanao. Ed joined the company as Agricultural Research Superintendent in 1970-1975 and was soon promoted to Far East Research Superintendent in 1975. Once again, he was sent by the company to the University of Hawaii in Manoa for his doctorate in Entomology, which he finished in a year and a half with straight A’s on his transcript. He was a member of various organizations, including the Entomological Society of America, the Entomological Society of Hawaii, the American Society of Sigma Xi, the International Honors Society and the Horticulture Society of Hawaii. Around this time, he also became a member of the Honor Society of Agriculture – Gamma Sigma Delta, membership of which was awarded in recognition of high scholarship. He was also awarded for Outstanding Achievement and Service to Agricultural Science by the University of Hawaii on April 21, 1977. He returned to the Philippines after graduation as a Senior Scientist of Castle and Cooke Foods, Inc., seconded to the Philippine subsidiary.
The following year, Ed was transferred to the company’s banana growing affiliate, Standard Philippine Fruits Corporation. He transferred his entire family to Davao City and stayed there for five years. In 1980, he was recognized by his Alma Mater in Musuan as its Most Outstanding Alumnus for Science and Technology for that year. In 1983, he was re-assigned to Dole Philippines to head the Agri Research Department.
What a job!
In 1996, Ed was registered in the thirteenth edition of Marquis Who is Who in the World, where the publication board certifies him as a person of biographical record. He was for a time included in standard elementary school textbooks, along with other renowned Filipinos, for being the scientist responsible for making the pineapple bear fruit all year round.
For 12 years, Ed stayed on as Research Head of Dole Philippines and raised six children with Guia. He decided to relocate to Antipolo City in Rizal to be close to his faith healer, to whom he had turned after the grim prognosis. He defied those odds for about five years until 2000, when he succumbed to a stroke. His efforts at physical therapy proved futile and was confined to a wheelchair most of the time. It was then that Ed and Guia decided to build their retirement house in Bukidnon, where they first met, and live their remaining lives where their life together started.
Ed passed away in that house on September 26, 2003, at the age of 65, the day before Guia’s 64th birthday. He had survived at least one major operation for each of the last five years of his life. His epitaph reads: “Rejoice for much has been given to us.”
Born: 20 Sept 1938
Birthplace: Dumaguete City, Mindanao, Philippines
B.S. in Agriculture, Central Mindanao University (1955)
M.S. in Entomology, University of Hawaii (1966)
PhD in Entomology, University of Hawaii (1979)
Occupation: Botanist, Entomologist, Agronomist
Hobbies: Gardening, Sketching, Reading, Swimming
Died: 26 Sept 2003
Laid to rest in: Damilag, Cagayan de Oro, Mindanao, Philippines