GGMelchor

Geoffrey Galatierra Melchor
Lead Guitar and Keyboard

21-A St. Ignacius Street, Saint Joseph Subdivision, Pulang Lupa, Las Pinas City, Philippines

[email protected]

Geoff is a Senior Civil Design Engineer of Winzler and Kelly Consulting Engineers, an ENR top 500 design firm with multiple offices in the United States and the Pacific Asia Region since 1991. He is currently running several construction activities at the American Memorial Park as a Construction Manager of various multi-million projects (one of the bandmates is an Engineer of one of the Contractors).

Born in Paniqui, Tarlac, Philippines; Geoff studied elementary in Paniqui Central Elementary School, with Honor and became a Model Pupil of the Year in school. After high school from Central Luzon High School also in Tarlac he moved to Manila to further his study in Architecture, his first love, but find himself an Engineer instead. Geoff finished his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering at the University of the East Main Campus in Manila, Philippines in 1983. He subsequently took the licensing board examination after six months and passed.

He worked for Consolidated Industrial Construction Group (CICG) and assigned at the Planning and Construction Management Branch in Makati City as a Structural Steel Design Engineer and a member of Construction Management team until he came to Saipan in October 1987 as an engineer and shortly as a General Manager in 1988 of a six-engineer and 86-employee construction company. But his first love in design engineering makes his strong-willed to resign and accepted a job offer in Guam, but find himself working with a large engineering firm with more complex projects in 1989 that makes him feel in high spirits in engineering design rather than practicing construction (How this happened?, read along).

While working with Winzler and Kelly Consulting Enginners, he developed and authored the TURNFLOW, a traffic engineering software which was submitted to Transportation Research Center in Florida, USA, reviewed and accepted by listing it on the Bulletin Link. He also developed and authored RUNOFF, a hydrology/civil engineering software being used at times by their branch office in Guam and Saipan. Geoff also developed and authored ARCS, Analysis and Design of Concrete Structures, a structural software all in 1994. Mr. Melchor is a Certified Master Modeler of Haestad Methods applying PondPack, Water Distribution and Sewer System Modelling. Mr. Melchor is a Guam/CNMI-EPA licensed Water Distribution Operator Level II.

Geoff is affiliated to:

Structural Engineers Association of California, Member

American Society of Civil Engineers, Member

Structural Engineering Institute, Charter Member

Society of American Military Engineers, International Member

Concrete Reinforcing Steel Institute, Professional Member

Asian Center for Engineering Computations and Software, AIT, Member

Marianas Association of Filipino Engineers and Architects, Saipan (Past President (1999)

Earthquake Engineering Research Institute, Member

International Conference of Building Officials (ICBO), Professional Member

The Marianas Association of Filipino Engineers and Architects (MAFEA) members voted him unanimously as a Design-Civil Engineer of the Year in 1998. In 1999 he was elected President of the MAFEA and concurrently elected President of the United Filipino Association (UFO), an umbrella organization of 22 various Filipino civic, sports, professional, regional organizations until 2000. During his term, MAFEA and UFO was given a Presidential citation or the 'Kaakabay ng Bayan' award by the President of the Republic of the Philippines in 2000 and received the award in Malacanang Palace, Philippines.

Geoff was selected by five non-Filipino judges (an Attorney General, a Dept. of Interior Rep., VP of biggest garment firm, an Attorney and from the CNMI government) invited by the Philippine Consulate General as one of the Ten Outstanding Filipino Overseas Workers in engineering category on June 8, 2001 in Saipan.

His Music Life...

Geoff's earliest memories are already bounded with music. As a small boy, frequent parties always happened in his mother's family compound because his grandfather, a former town mayor, constantly receiving visitors and his grandfather's way of welcoming visitors and friends is by playing music with his(grandfather's) three brothers. His grandfather is playing the accordion while the three (grandfather's) brothers are in guitars. His old folks band is also well liked by many, having invited many times in social gatherings. Unfortunately, his old folks band ends up at some stage in his high school days due to probably tiredness or not getting anymore younger. Geoff is a member of elementary and high school choirs.

Geoff learned his guitar basic in high school using a twisted and broken guitar he does not remember where it came from, a guitar probably discarded by one of his old folks. He starts learning guitar chords by reading chord pattern detached from a Jingle magazine. He almost gives up playing guitar because the string is almost an inch away from the guitar's fingerboard that makes his fingers bleed in pain when pressing it hard. But the guitar gave up sooner than his determination to learn.

During his college days in a boarding house, he again started strumming guitar with friends frequently after school. One of his classmate, who sometimes play guitar, happened to have a friend who owns a set of musical equipments, invited him to join and practice with them. Sorry to say, it did not happened. Geoff's experience in piano developed at his boarding house in Manila and finds it enjoying. Geoff's neighbor in Sampaloc, who happened to be his engineering classmate is a very good guitar player whom Geoff learned some techniques. Geoff's never missed every rock concert performed by local or foreign groups (like Eric Clapton in '79) who performed in Manila during his college days. After graduation from college, Geoff totally put out of his mind about playing musical instruments and finds it that being an engineer is an exciting activity.

Unexpectedly, while in the province self-reviewing in preparation for engineering board examination, he finds himself again with his cousins (one is a graduating engineer then) practicing for possible band groupings, but was being prevented by his uncle (also an engineer and his cousin's father), because his uncle see it awkward for an engineer doing like that. Instead they went to an establishment (club at night) to rent out the instruments to practice, but were refused because the owner said that we are not good players and will only damage the equipments. That activity was cut short and no longer continued. The other cousin is now a singer in the band, and all of them are grandsons of our old folks who played music in their time.

Geoff entirely stops wasting time about any musical activities and contentedly working as an engineer until he came to Saipan in 1987. In 1989, a guy approached him by trading-in an electric guitar for $50 and took it hurriedly, but the guitar was only used for less than a month because he resigned from his job and bound to go home for interview in the US Embassy for a job offer in Guam, and one of his men asked to leave the guitar. While waiting for the slow processing of his working visa to Guam that made him jobless for four months in Manila, a Korean friend and a contractor from Saipan went to Manila to fetch him and offered a job to handle a construction company. He decided to come back to Saipan and plan to just wait there for the processing of his visa for Guam. He then left the Korean contractor after months of arguments and find himself applying job for Winzler and Kelly.

In just weeks, Winzler and Kelly informed him that his working permit was just released and asked to leave for Manila (the CNMI law at that time requires you to exit to change status). While preparing to go home again to Manila the next day, unexpectedly on that same day, after many months of waiting, the company in Guam that hired him finally called and direct him to go to the US embassy for his visa's approval for processing. A choices that he considered hard to decide between a construction company in Guam or a consulting engineering firm, his favorite area of expertise. Because of wasting many times hanging around waiting for his job visa in Guam to process, he lost interest and turned down this job offer; instead picked his present company now. He believed that first come first choice is a good decision.

In 1990, due to his fondness into it and have a little experience he bought his first keyboard. In 1994, his friend, the singer of the Chosen Fools Band offered him his electric guitar for $200. Geoff did not hesitate and think twice and eventually bought the guitar. During this year he started asking fellow engineers or professional friends to play music along with him but disappointingly never found any interested. When the MAFEA was created, he also brings up in the meeting about forming an all-engineer band but no positive response from the members. In 1994, he was invited and joined with other newly formed group as what his friend funnily called 'Mga Hayop na Combo', and played occasionally but never seriously got into it because his dream is an all-engineer band. His guitar and keyboard were kept in his cabinet and never played for almost ten years.

In December 2002, he was offered roughly complete used musical equipments; Geoff's affection to music did not beg to be excused in getting hold of that instruments. Coincidentally on that day he received his Christmas bonus and use it to obtain all the instruments being offered.

Shortly after acquiring with quite a few instruments, he approached and asked Nelson Degala (Civil Engineer) of GPPC, Inc., about his plan to form an all-engineer and architects band. Nelson cheerfully agreed and willingly joins Geoff in shaping the proposed group; eventually Nelson bought a drum set to be the group's drummer.

Ruel Magtalas (Civil Engineer), a Materials Engineer of Laulau Bay Golf Course shown interest in music when he was introduced in the group and also owns two electric guitar instruments. Randy Jacob, a Supervising Engineer from MAEDA Pacific Corporation, on one occasion already showed his outstanding guitar playing when performing folk songs at the MAFEA party and in Geoff's house party. Since Ruel and Randy are MAFEA members, they were approached by Geoff to join the band and gladly accepted, Randy eventually bought his electrical guitar. So the MAFEA Band was formed and carried out their first practice at Geoff's garage in July 2003. Geoff is currently play lead guitar and keyboard of the MAFEA Band, he fearlessly sings too.

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