CHE’s Mysterious Insect
by Oliver Carlos
My home college in UPLB is the College of Human Ecology (CHE). Our main building is easy to find in campus for two reasons. First, it’s at the center of the university, just beside the UP Oblation. Second, it has a very unique façade. There’s a very big relief sculpture of a grasshopper at the entrance.
Many people thought that Human Ecology is all about insects. We’ll, I’d say that’s part of what we study, but the grasshopper isn’t the perfect icon to represent us, our college, and our discipline. Human Ecology, as the name suggests, is about human interactions with the environment. Humans interact with the biophysical environment which includes insects, but there is also what we call the social environment, humans also interact with fellow humans. So in essence, Human Ecology is a very wide field of study.
So why is there an insect on our façade, when insects would probably be just 1% of the combined biophysical and social environments we study? We have to go back to the university’s history to find the answer.
UPLB was founded in 1909. Its original name was the UP College of Agriculture. The Americans built it to be the premier agricultural school in the country. They wanted it to produce graduates who would be useful in boosting the agriculture sector of the colony. The buildings with an arc for an entrance were the oldest buildings in the campus. These are of pre-war architecture. The facade with an insect had a date, 1919, which means that that structure is more than 100 years old.
Agriculture is a very big field. It’s not just about planting crops, it’s also about taking care of chickens, pigs and cows. It’s also about studying the soil, developing fertilizers, and eliminating farm pests which include insects. One branch of Agriculture is Entomology. It is the study of insects. The pre-war BS Agriculture students studied Entomology at the old Human Ecology building.
When the College of Human Ecology (CHE) was founded in 1974, the Department of Entomology was relocated to the newly built Biosci building. The new college was assigned an old building for its shelter. The grasshopper was never demolished or erased for sentimental reasons. UP students just tried to connect that iconic grasshopper to Human Ecology by christening that creature, Chepaklong.
Whenever I pass by CHE and see the gigantic Chepaklong, I remember the Book of Joel in the Old Testament. In the ancient times, and even up to today, controlling farm pests is a herculean challenge. The most dreaded of the insects would be the locust. Joel talks about an invading locust swarm that would eat up all of Israel’s farms and pastures. Although locusts don’t eat humans, they eat the food of humans, totally. There would be no more harvest, there would be no more grass for the livestock. The next thing that would happen is a severe food shortage, and deaths of farm animals and humans due to hunger. Locusts are literal economy killers.
Locust swarms are mysterious, they just happen without any time pattern or warning. In life, we also encounter “locust invasion” moments. These are devastating times that just fall on us unexpectedly and for no apparent reason. They sap out our resources and life’s zest. They leave us in shambles.
But the Book of Joel teaches us that God’s purposes are sovereign even in such trying times. In fact, God promised to replenish our hands with all that we have lost to the locusts. He said in Joel 2:25 (RSV):
“I will restore to you the years which the swarming locust has eaten.”
If ever you are going thru a crisis right now, and you feel like everything is taken away from you, do not despair. Put your hope on God and his promise of restoration. God is the Lord of nature, of the locusts, and of your livelihood. The times are in his hands. In due time, you will be prosperous once again, just as he has promised.
