GUESSING GAME 5 Answer: Mr. Exequiel B. Ramos

Yes, it is Gloria Ramos-Dichoso's father! This has sparked a Rudy-Art thread on coffee: yes, Benguet arabica has become one of the gourmet range of Philippine coffees. Mr. Ramos was in charge of the experimental Bureau of Plant Industry at Bokawkan. I still remember the wooden Baguio government house where the Ramoses lived, my father went there a couple of times to consult with Mr. Ramos, and a few times I had tagged along. A very belated Thank You to you, Mr. Ramos.

And another childhood reminiscence: When I was about 10 years old, my father had a townsite application for something like 10,000 sq.m. of land, just in front of the PMA entrance. He went to seek the advice of Mr. Ramos, and since he was so highly enthusiastic about growing coffee, he assisted in making available enough coffee seedlings to cover the land. In those days, residents of Baguio were encouraged to develop the un-developed land through giving ownership, provided some improvements are installed. So one summer all of us in the family, in addition to hired help, were recruited to do the improvements by planting the seedlings over a period of several days just before the rains started. Alas, due to some ownership issues (patong-patong yung mga applications gayam) we lost the land. My role at that time was to start a small fire, heat up corned beef and spoon rice and the corned beef together in bulong iti saba for those who helped do the planting. And dippig bananas and warm Coke in bottles.

Here in Bangkok there is some promotion for gaba rice (Japanese red rice, kasla highland rice) and some shops make gaba cappuccino, latte and all those fancy-wancy coffees, made of kinorog nga bagas nga nalabaga.

And Gloria, hope to hear from you soon!!