DR ROBERTO E. CORONEL (1939/2016)
The sleuth who unearthed Bligh’s “Big Breadfruit Lie”
RIP: Dr Roberto Coronel — eminent Research Professor of tropical and sub-tropical fruits, College of Agriculture, University of the Philippines.
On 24 March 2016 a humanitarian, and friend, passed away. My sincere condolences go out to the family and friends of Dr Coronel. For those of us who’s lives had in some way been touched by this pleasant-natured man, further to his more recognized legacies, it should be known that Dr Coronel was considered by his peers of the 80’s to have been the world’s authority on the propagation of Artocarpus altilis (Breadfruit). Dr Coronel, as a pomologist, and as an author, understood how breadfruit underpinned hopes for food security in the Philippines and Oceana. No man of his times had a better understanding of breadfruit and applied his knowledge of the plant more successfully towards its commercial production.
Early in the 80’s following a visit by Dr Coronel to a tropical fruit research facility in Cairns Australia, and subsequent visits I made to Dr Coronel at the College of Agriculture and to his home in the Philippines, more than any other person, it was Dr Coronel who convinced me that William Bligh (of Mutiny on the Bounty fame) that Bligh’s accounts of collecting breadfruit plants in Tahiti had to be erroneous.
Our serendipitous encounter had, eventually, resulted in the publishing of my first book on the subject in 2009. After many years of research, as Dr Coronel had suspected, it was proved that many of Bligh’s accounts about breadfruit had indeed been fabricated.
I acknowledge an enormous debt of gratitude to Dr Coronel for generously giving his time, studying my draft chapters, and writing technical commentaries on the subject matter. Known for his progressive methods of accelerating layering of seedless breadfruits, without his enquiring mind, especially his curiosity about the method Bligh used to obtain his plants, it’s no mere cliché to assert, my books might never have been written.
Today, following in Dr Coronels pioneering footsteps, thankfully there are other eminent authorities and worthy institutions that continue to promote the conservation and use of breadfruit. *
To Dr Roberto Coronel (1939/2016) I acknowledge your wonderful humanitarian contributions — Rest in Peace. **
(Karl E. A. Lorbach: 27 March 2016)
* E.g.: Dr Diane Ragone, Director, Breadfruit Institute at National Botanical Garden, Kalaheo, Hawaii.
** Dr Roberto E. Coronel: “professional and academic awards include the Gawad Saka Award as Outstanding Agricultural Scientist (Department of Agriculture, 2004), Outstanding Research Award (UPLB College of Agriculture, 2004), Achievement Award for Research (National Research Council of the Philippines, 2003), DA-Khush Award of Recognition (Federation of Crop Science Societies of the Philippines, 2001), Award of Distinction (Philippine Fruit Association, 2000), Dangal ng Lipi Award (Provincial Government of Bulacan, 1998), and Achievement Award for Research (Crop Science Society of the Philippines, 1991)”.
Cit. Emil Q. Javier: Sunday Inquirer magazine 16 November 2003.
[Photos credit: Corazon A. Ong; Site of the UPCA 2010 Golden Jubilarians]
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