Dr. Wilmo C. Orejola – A great Basaynon in the U.S.A.

By CHITO D. DELA TORRE
April 28, 2008

The oftentimes uncaring attitude of Basaynons who should have been very much aware about their own brothers and sisters who are making good names for the Philippines and the Filipinos other than themselves could be a cultural oversight and faux pas.  A great Basaynon could have gained recognition about six years ago if not today.  But perhaps even those who are close to this great Samarnon prefer to be humble as not to brag about their kin’s greatness.  That may explain for the similar failure of the other great Basaynons who are making a good fortune and name in Tacloban City and contributing enormously to the socio-economic growth and progress of the city that once was a mere settlement site (“sitio”, in the old Spanish times) of Basey, their hometown and birthplace, and yet prefer to remain behind the scene.

In the realm of this oversight, this great Samarnon does not want to speak about himself and his works, and what he is doing for the whole world.  For many Basaynons are just like him.  They don’t brag, yet they perform even if performing will make others deserving and noticed.

Never mind if he is a distant relative of mine (according to the living revelations of my departed parents) as anyway being a relative of this subject here has nothing to do with this intrusive essay.   I am referring to Wilmo C. Orejola, a doctor, poet, book writer, and inventor.

Wilmo C. Orejola is himself, a brilliant student since his childhood, who in his college days, graduating as magna cum laude at the Divine Word University in Tacloban, was already a writer interested in the realms of science and poetry, and, further, even  in the weird that science wants demystified.  In his younger days, he formed the Basey Juvenile Community (BAJUCOM), the very first youth organization that tapped the potentials of the youth in cultural research and advancement for Basey.  His early scholarly and professional influence muscled the young male and female professionals, mostly unmarried then, into activities and norms that far exceeded those previously set by the Sorority or the Cofradia, the Adorers, and other civic organizations then active in Basey.  His PRIMERS Club, an indubitable group of professionals, mostly public elementary school teachers who often set the dancing norms during each benefit dance at  the then circular municipal auditorium – the biggest in all of Leyte and Samar, roofed and walled many years later to become the municipal gym, had blazed many trails along community and civic endeavours.  Today, the Club is an object to miss in the hearts of those who had loved to work with it.  All these occurred before Philippine President Ferdinand Edralin Marcos declared Martial Law on September 21, 1972.

Dr. Wilmo C. Orejola is a licensed physician, inventor and poet based in Pompton Plains, New Jersey.  Says the amazon.com: “... he completed Doctor of Medicine and residency in Cardiac Surgery in the Philippines.  In 1982, he migrated to the United States. He is a license(d) physician and has been awarded US patents for medical and non-medical inventions.  A distinguished member of the International Society of Poets, he publishes poems with the National Library of Poetry.  He believes that poetry may not only be a play of quotable phrases or verses but also a source of information.”

Dr. Orejola published, through the Watermark Press in May 2001, a book entitled “A Mat Weaver's Story: the Legend of Bungansakit”.  Its 65-page paperback edition costs $14.00 in the United States of America.  According to the amazon.com: “The book is a 600-verse epic poem that tells of a unique Filipino folklore from the author's birthplace Basey, Samar in the Philippines during the Spanish colonization of the Philippine Islands. It is a compelling drama of human frailties, ambivalence in beliefs and earnest search for redemption.”

“A Mat Weaver’s Story: the Legend of Bungansakit” (docketed as ISBN-10: 0795100612 and ISBN-13: 978-0795100611) is #3,559,670 in the sales rank of Amazon.com among the bestsellers in books.

Dr. Orejola also published “Ghosts of the Insurrection” (ISBN: 1412079004) through the Trafford Publishing.  The paperback book was released on July 6, 2006, priced at 18.99 US dollars.  It is a “remarkable novel about a little-known chapter of our history – the Philippines-American War, that lasted from 1898 to 1906.  Ghosts of the Insurrection deals with the cycle of violence in Samar in 1902, involving Filipino townspeople and American soldiers.  Orejola has sampled the collective memory of a population that witnessed abuses committed by both sides – resulting in a series of the earliest and most significant war crimes trials in US history.  Orejola’s account, steeped in folklore and evocative poetry, reveals the thinking of the occupied people, and their own struggles with the moral implications of guerrilla warfare.  As someone with a long-standing interest in the Philippines, I found that this book earned a place on my shelf next to Rosca and Rizal” says a printed “Reader Reviews” which extracts this other one book review: “a personal narrative of Philippine history, captures the human experience of it: (A) historical event can be just told and written thru a timeframe. (B)ut, this novel highlights a historical event thru a narrative. It is well written and you journey thru history together with the author. (B)y the time you come to the end of the book, you experience the passion and imagination of the author. (T)he author leaves a lasting impression of the event and its significance and the historical importance of it to (the) (P)hilippines.  (I)t is a literal time travel thru history.”

The Filipino Science Trivia wrote: “Wilmo Orejola, a Filipino surgeon, created the harmonic scalpel, anultrasonic surgical knife that doesn't burn flesh. He has more than a dozen medical and toy patents in the US and in the Philippines.”