Lantican – The National Scientist

Plant breeding is the genetic adjustment of plants to the service of man (Frankel, O.H.). One needs patience, hard work, and dedication for it takes years before one gets what one needs. Such is the case of Dr. Ricardo M. Lantican – plant breeder par excellence.

The making of a scientist

Ricardo or “Ric” as fondly called by his family and colleagues was born on January 8, 1933 in Los Banos, Laguna to Lorenzo, a Disbursing Officer at the UPLB College of Forestry, and Feliza, an elementary teacher at the Los Banos public school. Being pre-war elementary teachers themselves, his parents worked very hard to send him and his nine siblings to school. They instilled in him the importance of education.

At an early age, he displayed a great deal of enthusiasm, diligence and hard work. He graduated from Los Banos Elementary School in 1946 with honors and went to the UP Rural High School where he graduated with honors in 1950. He earned his undergraduate degree in Agriculture majoring in Agronomy from the University of the Philippines Los Banos (UPLB). He then pursued his master’s degree in crop science from North Carolina State College and his doctorate degree from the Iowa State University.

His efforts and outstanding performance in college was noticed by no other than National Scientist Discoro L. Umali himself, the father of plant breeding.

Dr. Umali during that time was in the process of transforming the UP College of Agriculture into a university. One of his projects was strengthening the manpower of the UPCA through staff development. He recruited brilliant students to be part of this program and Ric Lantican was one of those chosen few. With the encouragement from the expert himself, Ric Lantican viewed Dr. Umali as his inspiration to further pursue a career in plant breeding.

Contribution to the Kingdom Plantae

Lantican’s lifework was focused on field legumes that are important to the Filipino diet as a source of protein. His works that started in the early 60s resulted in the development and release of more than 20 improved varieties of mungbean (CES and Pag-asa series), soybean, and peanut. These outstanding varieties have become the choice varieties of farmers not only in the Philippines but also in Thailand, Taiwan, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, South Korea, Sri Lanka, India, Bangladesh, and China.

One of his most significant works, which was done in collaboration with a colleague and a graduate student, showed the world the relationship between cytoplasmic male sterility in maize and crop’s hypersensitivity to the Southern leaf blight disease. The Southern leaf blight disease in the 70s costs U.S. multibillion dollar losses to the corn industry. The world recognized the importance of this discovery when the US found out that almost all of the corn hybrids grown in the US were susceptible to such disease. This also caught the world’s attention on the vulnerability of genetically uniform crops to pests and diseases, thus raising interest in conserving genetic diversity.

The Scientist Administrator

An effective administrator has an extensive knowledge about his area.

Dr. Lantican rose from the ranks at the UPLB-CA as Junior Research Fellow (1954-1955) to Professor Emeritus (1998 to date). He became the Head of the Division of Plant Breeding (1963-1974); Chairman of the Department of Agronomy (1974-1980); Director of the Institute of Plant Breeding (1979-1984); and Director of Research of the UPLB (1984-1987, 1970-1973).

In 1967-1968, he was a Visiting Professor at the Cornell University, New York. After a decade, he worked as a Research Associate at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. This was in relation to a Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) projects in Sulawesi, Indonesia (1978-1979).

From 1988 to 1992, he worked as an Undersecretary for Research and Development at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Aside from his academic positions at the UPLB and administrative posts in the national government, he also served as consultant in different national and international agencies. He also had brief consultancies with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and International Rice Research Institute (IRRI).

The Family Man

“Harmonizing the heart and brain through love is what can establish a complete intelligence, a complete self…”

Through a colleague, Dr. Lantican met the woman who made his life complete. In 1964, he married the former Editha Santos, a Chemist/Analyst of the Philippine Sugar Institute, located just at the back of the Chemistry Building at UPLB where he worked. Their union produced two accomplished offspring. Their eldest, Emmanuel is a cardiologist while Carmella, their youngest, is a food technologist with an MBA degree.

A Rightful Recognition

After almost three quarter of a century, Dr. Lantican’s contributions to the amazing and yet complex field of plant breeding were finally recognized. On 5 December 2005, in one of the grand ballrooms of Malacanan Palace, the President of the Republic of the Philippines, Her Excellency Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, bestowed upon him the rank and title of National Scientist - the highest honor that could be given to a man or woman of science for exemplary and significant achievements and contributions to science and technology. Since 1978, the Academy has been able to produce 30 National Scientists. Of this number, only 11 are living including him.

Part of his award includes a Presidential Medallion – Order of National Scientist from the Office of the President of the Philippines and a cash prize from the National Academy of Science and Technology (NAST). Other benefits and privileges include a monthly life pension, medical hospitalization and a state funeral for a deceased National Scientists.

In all his accomplishments one cannot help but remember the famous line that says, a journey of a thousand mile begins with a single step. Dr. Lantican, now 73, has taken more than a million steps in order to reach his dream – to help Filipino farmers uplift their lives through plant breeding.

When asked what principle guided him by, with no qualms he said, “While you are at work in any field, do your best. Do not shift interest too often and be consistent with your goal. See to it that time is properly utilized. Be focused. Define your goal clearly to be able to see how you can attain it.”