PhiliPPine Journal of otolaryngology-head and neck Surgery Vol. 31 no. 1 January – June 2016
EDITORIAL
4 PhiliPPine Journal of otolaryngology-head and neck Surgery
The crimson and forest-green chevrons and piping on the long black academic gowns of
surgeons and physicians, respectively, are symbols of blood and foliage, of healing with the knife
or with medicaments.1 Most of us are strangers to neither calling, having trained intensively
in both these arts and sciences, and many proudly don the red-piped garb of the College of
Surgeons as well as the green-striped garments of our Society of Otolaryngology - Head and
Neck Surgery. The latter has seen 60 years come and go, and with these years, many highlights,
lowlights, and colleagues who have gone before us.
Red and green are also colors that mark a 35th anniversary with coral and jade, both regarded
as precious gems from antiquity. Corallium rubrum (red coral) “combined myth and magic,” as
“its bright red color fascinated people in the East and West alike.”2 It has been regarded as the
“blood of Medusa, soft and diaphanous under water, as hard as stone in the air,” or a procreative
“tree of blood” that “link(ed) with the divine and the supernatural.”2 Green jade, “the Emperor’s
Stone,” has been mined and worked in China since prehistoric times, eventually becoming the
“royal gem.”3 Red coral, green jade – precious stones on the 35th year of the Philippine Journal of
Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery. Coral red, jade green – precious colors that reflect our
noble profession.
Red and green are also the colors of Christmas, and their use may be traced back to the
“spatial and spiritual border marked by rood screens” in 14th to 16th century medieval churches,“
whose symbolism may have carried over to the temporal boundary between the end of one
year and the beginning of the next.”4 These elaborately designed dividers featured edifying
illustrations of saints and holy scenes in multicolored splendor, but were predominantly green
and red. “Iron was one source of red pigment, and copper a source of green pigment, that
colored the screens” and because “metallurgy was determined by astronomy,” also closely
associated were “Iron with Mars, the masculine, war, and fire” and “Copper with Venus, the
feminine, love and water.”4 Hence, the colors people encountered held multiple planes of
meaning for them, as they celebrated another year over, a new one begun. (Figure)
Correspondence: Prof. Dr. José Florencio F. Lapeña, Jr.
Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Ward 10, Philippine General Hospital
Taft Avenue, Ermita, Manila 1000
Philippines
Phone: (632) 554 8467
Telefax: (632) 524 4455
Email: lapenajf@upm.edu.ph
The author declared that this represents original material
that is not being considered for publication or has not been
published or accepted for publication elsewhere, in full or
in part, in print or electronic media; that the manuscript
has been read and approved by the author, that the
requirements for authorship have been met by the author,
and that the author believes that the manuscript represents
honest work.
José Florencio F. Lapeña, Jr., MA, MD
Department of Otorhinolaryngology
College of Medicine, University of the Philippines
Manila, Philippines
Department of Otorhinolaryngology
Head and Neck Surgery
East Avenue Medical Center, Diliman
Quezon City, Philippines
Blood and Foliage: Coral Red and Jade Green
Philipp J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2016; 31 (1): 4-5 c Philippine Society of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery, Inc.
Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivatives 4.0 International
PhiliPPine Journal of otolaryngology-head and neck Surgery 5
PhiliPPine Journal of otolaryngology-head and neck Surgery Vol. 31 no. 1 January – June 2016
EDITORIAL
Today, there is much to be thankful for, and much more to remain
open to. Our journal has maintained a respected position among its
peers, and is ready to move forward. With this issue, we begin granting
a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0
International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license5 to articles published in
the Philippine Journal of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, in
addition to the copyright already transferred to the Philippine Society
of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery.
This license means that readers are free to share - copy and
redistribute the material in any medium or format under the following
terms:5
REFERENCES
1. Hippocratic Aphorisms 7.87, 4.608 L., Littré E. Œuvres compl`etes d’Hippocrate (10 volumes,
Paris; 1839–61). Jones WHS, Potter P, translators. Vol. 4. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press;
1988.
2. Del Mare C. The Coral Story: A brief history of Mediterranean coral. [Internet] In Lewis J. Stories
from a Trader’s Life. Sta Fe, NM: The Trade Roots Collection: The Trusted Source 2000. [cited 15
June 2016] Available from:http://www.traderoots.com.
3. Desjardins J. The History of Jade: The Emperor’s Stone. [Internet] Vancouver, BC: Visual Capitalist
2016. [cited 15 June 2016] Available from:http://www.visualcapitalist.com/the-history-of-jade-
the-emperors-stone/.
4. Bucklow S. The alchemy of paint: art, science and secrets from the Middle Ages. London; NY:
Marion Boyars; 2009.
5. Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-
ND 4.0) license. [Cited 1 June 2016] Available athttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-
nd/4.0/.
6. Lapeña JF. “Impact, Not Just Impact Factor: Responding to the Manila Declaration on the
Availability and Use of health Research Information” Philipp J Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 2015
Jul-Dec; 30(2):4-5.
7. Directory of Open Access Journals. [Cited 1 June 2016] Available from https://doaj.org.
Figure. Rood screen in the 14th-century gothic Église Saint-Pierre-Le-Jeune,
Strasbourg, France. Behind is the famous pipe organ of Johann Andreas Silbermann on
which Helmut Walcha recorded a large part of his performances of Bach’s organ works.
(Photo by José Florencio F. Lapeña, Jr.)
Attribution – they must give appropriate credit, provide a link to
the license, and indicate if changes were made. They may do so in any
reasonable manner, but not in a way that suggests the licensor endorses
them or their use.
NonCommercial – they may not use the material for commercial
purposes.
NoDerivatives – if they remix, transform or build upon the material,
they may not distribute the modified material.
We hope that this further concretizes our response to the Manila
Declaration on the Availability and Use of Health Research Information6
and eventually qualifies us for inclusion in the Directory of Open Access
Journals.7 In support of this, we conducted a Basic Medical Writing
Workshop for authors last March 19, 2016 and a two-day Research
Technical Review Workshop for reviewers last April 29-30 hosted by the
PSOHNS, and plan to continue doing so. We are seriously negotiating
for migration from our current online platform to one that will better
serve our needs, and those of our readers. We will soon activate our
social media presence as well.
Indeed, we all are yin and yang, you and I, red coral and green jade.
We draw blood, and apply herbal poultices. We swim with the flow,
yet solidly stand our ground. We don gay apparel of coral red and jade
green, and merrily yet solemnly celebrate. Mabuhay!