Doc Dante: Torchbearer in the pig sty

Another feather was recently added to the already storied cap of Dr. Constante "Dante" Palabrica — a man whose name carries weight from the boardrooms of the Department of Agriculture to the humble pig sties of the Philippine countryside.

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The University of the Philippines Alumni Association (UPAA) last month honored him as one of 64 outstanding alumni, recognizing a career built on science, service, and a lifelong refusal to walk away from a challenge.

Doc Dante — an institution in the livestock world, especially at Robina Farms — is one of only eight recipients of the UPAA Alumni Award for Public Health Promotion this year. He is also the sole awardee representing the Department of Agriculture.

After spending six years in UP Diliman, Doc Dante took the board and placed sixth in the Veterinary Medicine Licensure Examination in 1978.

But to call him simply a veterinarian would be an understatement. Doc Dante is a lifer — devoting over four decades to a single name: Robina Farms. "They call me alamat," he said in an interview a couple of years ago for a Gokongwei Group internal publication. And truly, he is.