The educator as a catalyst for change and development
He wanted to become a farmer and revolutionize the rice production in the country. He thought then that since rice was the staple food of the Filipinos, intensifying the production of rice the scientific way in the rural areas will give more food to the hungry poor and good income to hardworking farmers.
So in the early 50s when his high school classmates enrolled in law and other hifalutin courses, Helmar Aguilar, the young green thumb from Passi, Iloilo, stepped into the portal of then Central Philippine College, Jaro, and like a number of budding young farmers, enrolled in agriculture.
Helmar was determined to become a model farmer so he scanned agriculture literature and books at the library and spent sleepless nights mastering the ABC of agriculture. He shunned night clubs and worldly entertainment but burned the midnight oil until finally when the college became a full-fledged university in 1955, he marched with flying colors to the university graduation rites and received his bachelor's degree in agriculture.
His fondest dream was to teach young farmers with the modern farming techniques, Helmar pursed further study and finished agricultural education in 1963. His boyhood dream of becoming a farmer teacher came true when he landed a career as a secondary school teacher at the Iloilo National College of Agriculture (INCA) in Lambunao, Iloilo and for seven years succeeded in producing A-1 farmers in the adjoining Lambunao towns. His success as an agricultural instructor earned for him an agronomy instructor at the Aklan Agricultural College and later at the Leon National Agricultural College and later at the Leon National Agricultural College where he produced top-producing farmers in the Aleosan area. Desiring to impart his vast agricultural knowledge with colleagues and farmers in Luzon, Helmar took a masteral degree in agriculture at the Araneta Universty in 1979 and finished his doctoral degree in education at Centro Escolar University in 1982.
On July 1, 1975, Education Secretary Lourdes Quisumbing appointed Helmar Aguilar to the National Agricultural School Superintendent of the Aklan Agricultural College and later became Aklan State University which he administered from that time on until his retirement in 2007 as President of the country's leading agricultural university according to the Education Secretary as “show case of today's Philippine education trilogy of goals, equity, quality and relevance.”
A multi-awardee for his exemplary, meritorious and commendable in the field of education as well as in other fields like agriculture, he was accorded honor and distinction as one of the first 23 Most Outstanding National Education Principals in the Philippines in 1969 by the Biographical Research Society of the Philippines and subsequently included in “Know Them”, a book of biographies titled “Directory of Outstanding Men and Women in the Philippine Government Service” published in the same year. A dynamic leader, he was honored for his outstanding contribution to and dynamic leadership in the Green Revolution Program in 1976; outstanding performance and exemplary leadership in the Integrated Alay Tanim and School Health Guardian program in Region VI in 1979 and 1980.
As moulder of the youth and as school administrator for more than 25 years, he participated in various special studies and trainings, Asian Institute of Management at Los Baños, at Suweon and Seoul, Republic of Korea, to Tagaytay City, Baguio City, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore and a dozen of trainings all over the country. A Fellowship Awardee of the Ford Foundation Asian Vegetable Research Development Center at Tainan, Taiwan, China. Dr. Aguilar has been a member of many socio-civic organizations in Iloilo, Aklan, etc. He has been a recipient of more than a dozen awards, certificates of appreciation and other model of honor that put him, “the Educator as a Catalyst for Change and Development,” the most outstanding alumnus in agriculture Central Philippine University ever had. Married to the former Patricia Quidato, daughter of former Sta. Barbara, Iloilo Mayor Cornelio S. Quidato, and the couple has only one son Helmar, Jr.
Helmar and his wife Patricia live in their modest home in Sta. Barbara, Iloilo, while Helmar is still active in agricultural activity in Passi, Iloilo, where he actively manages with vigor and strength. Always well-dressed but no pompous, he oozes with elegant manliness and sexiness that heighten his hunkish litheness and agility. Still in his 75th, Helmar exercises daily.