The science of government and the deeper understanding of public service are inflexibly linked with principles and ideals and made more meaningful by sentiments and affection.

These are the elements of statecraft that the late Rafael M. Salas practiced and propagated during his stint in government and carried out when he assumed office in the United Nations.

If he were alive today, he would be celebrating his 80th birthday anniversary tomorrow, Friday, August 7 but he won’t because he is dead: Men like him die young before fulfilling themselves.

He died in Washington, DC in 1987 while performing his duties as the first head of the United Nations Population Fund with the rank of United Nations Undersecretary General.

Mr. Salas, affectionately called “Paeng” was thought of by those who knew him as a future President of the Philippines.

Paeng Salas was born in Bago City, Negros Occidental, one of the three children of Dr. Ernesto Araneta Salas and Isabel Montinola.

After graduating from high school at the top of his class, he went to Manila to study at the University of the Philippines where he earned a B.A. degree (magna cum laude) in 1950 and a Bachelor of Laws degree (cum laude) in 1953.

He then went to Harvard where he obtained a Master of Public Administration degree (grades with distinction) 1956.

In 1966, Paeng Salas was called upon to serve his country as Executive Secretary under the newly-elected President Ferdinand E. Marcos.

It was in that position which at the time was referred to as “Little President” that he demonstrated his statecraft when he assumed various positions notably as Action Officer of the Rice and Corn Production Coordinating Council with the specific mission of ending the age-old problem of rice shortages.

In carrying out his varied responsibilities, Salas, a celebrated national student leader during his college days, recruited and formed a group of talented and idealistic young men and women – youth leaders, college editors and student council presidents – that collectively became known as “The Salas Boys.”

Some of the better known Salas Boys who became Cabinet and sub-Cabinet Members in succeeding administrations were Victor O. Ramos, Boy Morales, Fulgencio S. Factoran Jr., the late Stephen F. Sergio, Jerry Flores, and Dominador Cepeda, to mention a few. Others have become Ambassadors such as the late Edmundo Libid, and Jimmy Yambao. We had also Salas Boys in the Supreme Court: retired Justice Jose A. R. Melo currently the Comelec Chairman, and retired Justice Cancio Garcia. The present member of the Supreme Court, Justice Leonardo A. Quisumbing is also a member of the Salas Boys.

The hard work and dedication paid off handsomely when in 1969 the Philippines became self-sufficient in rice for the first time in 81 years. His success in achieving a breakthrough harvest for Asia’s staple earned international recognition for Paeng Salas’ “dynamic, transformational leadership style.”

Among his early admirer was Paul Hoffman, then head of the United Nations Development Program.

As his horizon broadened, his relationship with a jealous Marcos deteriorated that caused him to resign and took up a pending offer from Hoffman to head the newly created United Nations Population Fund in New York.

From a one-room office in Manhattan with a staff of two people, Salas transformed the Fund into the biggest source of much-needed financing for population activities in some 180 countries around the world. The extraordinary feat earned for him a promotion to the rank of United Nations Undersecretary General as well as at least 30 citations and honorary degrees from various universities around the world.

Paeng Salas, despite the demands of his work, never stopped being a caring and loving husband to his wife, Carmencita Rodriguez of Cebu (who later became Philippine Ambassador to the Czech Republic) and an equally loving father to his two sons, Ernest and Raffy.

This widely-read, world-class administrator and technocrat was a poet as well, having written two books of haikus, the classic Japanese poetry form, namely, “Fifty-Six Stones,” and “Footprints” published by Weatherhill in New York in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

Paeng Salas, a multi-talented, generous and a loving person was, to my mind, the best president our country never had.

(zhern_218@yahoo.com)