by Bud Omar, PHI '08B

“Don’t let the day pass without learning something new, look at life as a big school...”

Mark Mariñas learned magic during med school. An ardent sportsman since his high school years, he practiced taekwondo and wushu during his clerkship year. He is a painter, a graphic artist, a sculptor and an avid photographer. He is also a musician – adept at the guitar, harmonica and flute. During his college years, he founded the Katipunan party and was among the first members of the UP Manila Strike force. And just five years ago, he was made an honorary member of the Philippine Astronomical Society.

And he can play the glockenspiel.

For Mark Mariñas, it seems, “everything is possible”.

There are talented men and then there are men like Mark. He is a renaissance man, a man of vastly diverse interests, in all of which he excels. He relates that it is his incessant pursuit for challenges that drive him to try out new things, “When we are always comfortable we don’t grow and develop as a person. We need to be constantly seeking new challenges and new avenues for growth. The test of gold is fire: adversity. There is actually a Chinese curse about it: ‘May you live in comfortable times.’”

Having already excelled at working with watercolor and pen-and-ink as media, he decided he needed to learn how to draw on the digital medium directly. Now he is best known for his work in the graphic arts; the new PGH logo, for instance, is his creation. When asked to design a trophy for the Voices in Harmony Choral Competition, he also sculpted the actual prize which has since become one of the most known of his carvings.

Indeed this relentless commitment to excellence is one of the hallmarks of a PHI; and that which first resonated with Mark. Asked how he learned of and why he joined PHI, Brod Mark told no sob story. Matter-of-factly he told of how PHI was simply always there, a presence that was both imposing and overly familiar. As a first year intarmed student, he was witness to how the resident brods lead in the various activities, and assume various roles in the college. There was no question in his mind then that he was going to be a PHI. He says he didn’t really make much of a choice when he joined, “it was obvious.”

Of the four pillars though, what he associates the most with is service. For Mark, being PHI means having a “life outside of the run-of-the-mill not just for oneself but also for others. In committing yourself to service and to sharing your talents, you pass on a legacy.”

Asked how the fraternity has changed through the years, he notes how barugan changed at the turn of the millenium. He adds though that brods have stepped up and have become more imaginative in making recruits “pass the gauntlet”; and thus the essence of the initiation process remained.

Everything is possible – this is Brod Mark’s creed and also the essence of his life. He is a a man of many pursuits; but what defines him is his unwavering faith in PHI, his unflinching commitment to the primacy of the Four Pillars, his belief in the enduring legacy of every PHI  –  the torch of excellence, leadership, service and brotherhood passed on from one generation to the next, with each one fanning the flame to new heights.