This is a true story worth retelling to future generations. There was once a man named Tay Gipo. He came from one of the beautiful islands in central Philippines. His family was made up of very industrious people, but the land in their region was not good for growing crops. So they left their town in search of good lands in the southern region.

They crossed rivers, seas and oceans to go to the south in search of green pasture in a place called Mindanao. There they found arable lands less frequented by storms and floods. There was much land to be cultivated and Tay Gipo prospered in that land as a good farmer. There he was able to raise a family. He also cultivated rice fields, raised hogs and chickens for his family. He became a very successful farmer. But sooner or later, as if an evil hand was at work, a certain tungro virus started killing his rice plants.

Pests and drought also came to the land making people die in hunger. Rice crops were destroyed and they easily withered as the deadly tungro virus started to poison the plants. Tay Gipo prayed that the crops would not die, thinking of the future generation and especially of the children who would not have food to sustain them. People were all sad and hungry. Hopelessness now reigned in the once rich land. People started stealing chicken and pigs from one another as food became scarce in the land. Scientists and researchers came to help the farmers but they were not able to find a cure for the deadly tungro virus.

But hope never dimmed in Tay Gipo’s heart. He always prayed and read in his free time. One time he read a comics magazine about a super boy named Bordagol who saved the whole world from bad men and women. While reading, he noticed one surviving rice plant still standing with its stalks of grain. Amazed, he continued to observe it and wondered why this particular plant could resist the deadly virus, the pests and the drought. “This rice must possess a special strength,” he thought. He continued, “You, my lucky rice will save the world from all these bad things happening to the land. For this I’ll christen you Bordagol (after the comic boy superhero who was saving the world from bad people). But Bordagol, his new rice discovery was not spared from problems, as once his friendly but hungry carabao was searching for food too.

Seeing the lone green plant surviving on the vast rice fields, the carabao was already preparing to eat Bordagol. It was a good thing that Tay Gipo was watchful, so he came to the rescue of Bordagol by pulling the rice stalks out of the carabao’s mouth as the latter was about to chew it. Fortunately, Tay Gipo came in time to save the rice grains. He held the seed grains in his hands, rejoicing and so happy that they were spared, believing that the hope of the dying land was in his hands. True enough he turned out to be right.

He planted the seed grains and they yielded a greater harvest. He planted more and they yielded an even more abundant harvest. Several months passed and his rice lands were once again green and vibrant. Then they turned gold ready for the harvest time. The whole town got to hear about the magical rice so they asked Tay Gipo to share his rice grains with them so that they could be planted in other parts of the land, and he did so generously. Together, they successfully propagated this variety of rice which resisted the deadly tungro virus. Indeed, Tay Gipo and Bordagol, our super heroes, actually saved a lot of people from a deadly famine.

Tay Gipo passed away last March 2009, as the whole world paid homage to him for his very simple yet noble contribution to the lives of many poor farmers. Yet he will be remembered not only for his discovery of Bordagol, our miracle rice, but also and even more, for his hopeful perseverance, generosity, and industriousness, and most especially for his faith in God who guides the destiny of his people towards the promised land where rice grows in abundance and will never run out.

Yanong Liwanag

Eulogio “Tay Gipo” Sasi Jr. was born in La Castellana, Negros Occidental on 8 June 1944. His family moved from Visayas to Mindanao while he was still a young boy. He managed to finish only up to fourth grade. Then, he worked in Roxas City, North Cotabato as a farmer. Tay Gipo’s discovery of the Bordagol rice variety happened during a bleak farming season. At that time, his rice plants had been seriously infected by the “tungro” virus except for one plant. He harvested the seeds of that plant immediately and replanted them.

He was able to harvest 25 kilos from those seedlings in the next season. In 1987, other farmers in his town became interested in his rice variety. He began sharing its seeds with his fellow farmers until he received an invitation to join a research institute. He named the rice plant after the comics character "Bordagol" whose task was to save his planet. According to Tay Gipo, this plant, like Bordagol's comics character, can help many farmers. In 1992, Tay Gipo became part of the Southeast Asian Research Institute on Community Empowerment (SEARICE).

Last 2008, he was invited for the opening of the seed vault in Norway commonly called as Noah’s Ark. The Philippines contributed 7,000 varieties of seeds to the said vault for preservation in case they faced extinction. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault is a back-up seed storage facility that can store millions of diverse seed collections. It was designed as an “insurance policy" to secure seeds – the world’s most important living resource – against catastrophes such as floods, earthquakes, nuclear fallouts and even climate change. The 120-meter facility is a joint project of the Global Crop Diversity Trust, the Nordic Genebank and the Royal Norwegian Ministry of Agriculture and Food in the permafrost mountain of Svalbard, some 1,000 kilometers away from the North Pole.

Tay Gipo said he was hesitant when invited to talk at the conference, when he was invited for the opening of the seed vault. “I am embarrassed to speak in front of many people, especially in front of important people, like all of you. Para sa isang pobre at simpleng magsasaka tulad ko, parang imposible at mahirap na humarap sa inyo dahil; napakalayo ng lugar na ito mula sa Pilipinas. Akala ko hindi ako makapunta dito dahil wala akong birth certificate, (For a poor and simple farmer like myself, it seems impossible and hard to face and address you all: this place is very far from the Philippines. I thought I could not make it here because I do not even have a birth certificate)," Tay Gipo explained in his speech.

He represented poor farmers during that occasion and when he died last March 2009, he was honored by the Svalbard Initiators in Norway for his simple yet noble contribution to humanity.