In the Depths of the Ocean, This Filipina Marine Biologist Feels Most Like Herself

Dr. Hyacinth Suarez, marine biologist, is a deep diver. She dives down up to 45 meters into the waters of the Philippines to observe and study black corals, of which very little is still known, and which are found in the waters of Palawan, Zamboanga, and Cebu, where she is based, and Bohol, where she grew up.

“I had never heard of black corals until around 2011. A friend of mine [told me about them and] said, ‘You see them in shallow areas, but they’re more abundant as you go deeper.’ So, we went diving, and I was impressed because they look like plants,” she shares.

A deep dive into the aquatic

She has been studying them ever since—and “studying” means regularly diving into the depths of the ocean to, if she’s fortunate, spend a precious few minutes observing the black corals. She chuckles a bit when asked about the danger in her work. “There’s a bit of danger there, yes,” she admits. “I’ve had my share of accidents. I have overstayed in a certain depth. The collection is fast, but the observation is not. When you dive, say, 40 meters, you’re lucky if you can stay for 10 minutes underwater.”

When she was in her mid-30s, Dr. Suarez would deep dive three times a day—a fact that astonished her counterparts in the United States, when she went there to present her research to them. “They were like, ‘Are you crazy?’” she relays, laughing. “Well, I did it, and I’m still standing.” Although she doesn’t dive as often anymore, she is proof that when one falls in love, what she calls the “buwis-buhay” nature of her work is hardly an impediment. And Dr. Suarez, as you’ve probably surmised by now, is in love with, yes, the ocean—but more definitively, her work.

An affair with the ocean

Andrea Beldua

When she was young—too young to really remember the details, she says—Dr. Suarez saw the ocean for the first time in Bohol, when her family moved from her birthplace of North Cotabato, to her mother’s hometown of Valencia, Bohol. “My mom told me that the first time I saw the sea, I was so amazed. I wanted to go there every single day. I would play with shells, or whatever I would find,” she says. But after a childhood marked by a desire to become a pianist, and then years of trying to figure out what to do with her life, it was only when Dr. Suarez first heard of the occupation of a marine biologist that she began to seriously consider a career in science. She went on to study marine biology in the University of San Carlos, get her master’s degree from Silliman University, and eventually complete her doctorate back in University of San Carlos.

Despite already becoming enamored with the ocean as a child, becoming a marine biologist really opened her eyes to its beauty, even below the surface. “The Philippines is beautiful,” Dr. Suarez shares, smiling. “When I’m underwater, it’s really beautiful. It’s diverse, with so many different species.” “But,” she continues, “it should not take a scientist to say it. We are one of the most diverse places in the world. When we host foreign visitors, that’s what they say, that it’s so diverse.”

“In hindsight,” she muses, turning pensive, “if you ask me what encouraged me [to become a marine biologist], maybe I’ve always liked the sea, because I could have chosen a different pathway.”

A life she loves, of her choosing

Today, she devotes her time to doing research on black corals, which has her traveling back and forth to Bohol from Cebu, and to working with her physicist-husband in developing new innovations for tissue engineering using marine materials. Dr. Suarez is also an educator, as an associate professor at the Holy Name University in Tagbilaran City, where she teaches one to two courses per semester, “to be able to share whatever it is that I know from my research. I feel like when I teach, I am advocating what I do for research. I cannot separate the two,” she says. Her days are “a little bit of teaching, and then research, and then the sea. And I feel like this is what my life is all about. And I love it.”

Sidestepping hurdles

Andrea Beldua

Much has been said about the gender disparity in the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, or STEM—that the males outnumber the females, and since they do, have the scales tipped in their favor. Interestingly, in the world of Dr. Suarez, that is not the case.  “Where I belong,” she shares, quick to clarify that she is referring to her immediate environment, and not in her entire field of expertise, “there are more women. For example, the students that I’m advising now, they’re all women. And in my workplace, more than 60 percent are women.”

That’s not to say that the challenges still don’t exist. She says that they still do, and, most of the time, for her, in the most base and physical sense—such as lifting all the heavy equipment by themselves onto boats, or carrying them to sites. In fact, Dr. Suarez raises an issue that, when you think about it, must plague female marine biologists anywhere in the world—having to deal with the monthly period, especially when a dive has to be done. ”That’s an interesting topic,” she shares. “A few times, I’ve done it, but I will not recommend it.” She laughs, saying, “it’s just a matter of rescheduling, so it’s not a hindrance. People might say, [this field is] for men because [the equipment is] heavy, it’s for men because we cannot just dive anytime we want. But no, there are no natural limitations for a woman to do what I do.” Dr. Suarez cuts directly to a powerful statement: “My point is, that we [women] have innate [physical] limitations, but I have never seen a woman within my field whining about it.”

The song of the sea in her soul

Despite any challenges, Dr. Suarez will dive anyway. She will study the corals and the life in the sea. She will develop new materials out of marine matter. And she will pass her learnings on, through her students, to others she comes across. Because all of these things are parts of her.

“When I’m underwater,” she shares, “I feel like I am me. I have this feeling of ‘This is where I belong.’ So, you can imagine why I stick to what I do, because I feel like I am doing something that’s my identity. This is me.”

With her chosen profession, it is a given that Dr. Suarez is besotted by the ocean. As it turns out, there’s more to her love affair with it. It doesn’t only captivate her. It is when she is in the ocean, meters under the surface, when she is being carried to and fro by the currents of the sea, that she finds herself.

Art direction and beauty direction by Sacha Mancera. Photography by Andrea Beldua, assisted by Toto Pepito and JR Baylon. Makeup by Janica Cleto, assisted by Jandrey Cleto. Hair by Cats Del Rosario. Styling by Gee Jocson, assisted by Kassandra Gandionco.