RODOLFO “RUDY” DELIMA LIPORADA
’79 A.B. ECONOMIC/SOCIOLOGY
AUREA “AU” OLOSAN LIPORADA
’79 M.A. EDUCATION
When you hear me blubbering about High-Health, High-Tech Cookware Systems, that’s me expressing my frustration not to have completed medical school which I started in the University of the Philippines – Baguio City. My parents simply could not afford the entire course. When you hear me discussing noxious molecular chemical reaction of heated ordinary pots and pans with food we are cooking, that’s my freshman and sophomore engineering physics and chemistry canned knowledge speaking. Again, I could not finish the course because my mother had a stroke.
In a near starvation state, working as a freelance journalist (Freshman English served me well), photographer, and managing editor of an advertising magazine, however, I managed to swing my graduation cap tassel from left to right with a double major in Economics and Sociology with a cognate in Political Science.
Even before I graduated, the Regional Executive Director of the National Economic Development Authority – I (NEDA-I) already hired me for the pilot Regional Project Monitoring System. Working with my staff, I monitored mostly government projects financed by United Nations entities such as the World Bank, UNICEF, WHO, etc. throughout Northern Luzon. While I did my job well to put the foreign funds to good use, this brought me into the cross-hairs of hardened political figures that siphoned money from these projects into their pockets. “We cannot rock the boat, Rudy,” my boss used to say. For the peace of my conscience, I opted to transfer to another government agency when the chance presented itself.
I became the Regional Administrative Manager for Philippine Cotton Corporation. My area covered. Pangasinan, Nueva, Ecija, Pampangga, Tarlac, Bulacan and Mindoro. I felt I had an empire for I oversaw the accounting, cash, personnel, general services, budget, and supplies component functions of the company through a much larger staff compared to NEDA. I felt more fulfilled, too, as I saw my contributions in every cotton ball that made a farmer smile.
Alas, income in the Philippines was never enough. Although my wife, Aurea, is a nurse who graduated from St. Paul’s College in Manila and later obtained a Masters in Education from the University of the Philippines, with a growing horde of four boys, we hardly made both ends meet. When a recruiting team came from Zambia, Africa, through the auspices of the Overseas Advisory Development Board, both my wife and I applied. She got accepted as a Nurse Instructor; I, as a Feature Writing/Photography Instructor.
From January 1983 to December 1986 will then be known as our African Sojourn. We imbibed and enjoyed the Zambia culture. On the negative side, we had to endure Zambian time which is far worse than Filipino time. We ate their food like the millie-meal or ground corn.
While in Lusaka, Zambia, I was designated by our Kababayans as “Honorary Consul” (as the nearest consular offices were in Nairobi, Kenya and in South Africa). I proudly represented the Filipino community in international functions. In one of these gatherings, the US consul commented that people with our qualifications should be in America. We explained that Aurea does have a petition pending at the US embassy in Manila. Through him, Aurea’s petition was transferred to Lusaka through diplomatic pouch and her petition was promptly processed in conjunction with the entire family.
In December 16, 1986, we found ourselves receiving the paperwork as residents of the USA and to fly to the mainland no later than April 1987. And so it was that in February 5, 1987 (after a brief visit to the Philippines), my entire family landed in Los Angeles, California as new immigrants.
In the USA, Aurea continued to practice her profession as a Registered Nurse. After a year in the psyche wards of Camarillo State Hospital, she became an operating room nurse in St. John’s Regional Medical Center.
After odd jobs, I became a claims adjuster for the State of California Workman Compensation Insurance Fund. While in Oxnard, Ventura County, I also served with the Oxnard’s Planning Commission and as Deputy Director of the Filipino American Council.
My eldest, Paul, would be a fulfillment of my engineering ambitions. He now works with SONY as an electrical engineer. I have two grandchildren with him. My second, Jose, is a Bio-Chemist and is a supervisor with AMGEN. With him, I have three grandchildren. My youngest boy, Rudy Julius is now in Okinawa serving as an electrician with the Navy. I also have three grandchildren with him. My third boy, Karl, died in a freak auto accident but not without leaving me a grandchild.
What has not yet been mentioned is that we have a miracle baby girl, Frances Marie who was born thirteen years after our youngest boy and when Aurea was 42.
Like most of us, health is our main concern for ourselves and our children. For this reason, when we heard of Saladmaster, we decided to enter into it, deep. So when Saladmaster assigned us to be the dealer here in San Diego, we had no qualms in transferring down here. Now, I feel fulfilled that my young dream to be in the forefront of medicine is being realized. I consider myself to be on the preventive side of medicine. I consider myself as a “Caldero-logist” doubling as a “POT-ologist”.
University of the Philippines Alumni Association - San Diego County 