UP Newsletter April 2012

Wired UP ORS launched The UP Open University’s Online Registration System (ORS) not only allows students to enroll through the Internet but also includes profile updating, grades viewing, document requests, course fees assessment and online payment. (http://www.oursys.info/ors/)

University of the Philippines Community Newspaper V O L U M E X X XIII

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DILIMAN, QUEZON CITY

Read UP Newsletter online at http://www.up.edu.ph/upnewsletter.php

Photo by Jonathan Madrid

e-UP to enhance UP capacity for service

Orlando Vea of Smart Communications Inc. gestures “all systems go” for the collaborative project.

The 14 campuses of the country’s national university are now interconnected.

UP President Alfredo Pascual stressed the importance of the e-UP project in maintaining the university’s leading role in Philippine higher education and national development. e-UP is a UP System-wide computerization project which will implement a seamless and integrated Infor mation and Communications Technology (ICT) infrastructure among all its campuses. It was launched last March 12 at the UP Executive House, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Pascual said e-UP will enable the university to assist other public universities and colleges through academic linkages, research collaboration, and information sharing—all powered by the new information and communication technologies (ICT).

“Our professors can now deliver their

UPOU holds 1st Int’l Conference on ODeL Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

“I commend the UP Open University (UPOU) for effectively harnessing the power of innovation to serve the people,” UP President Alfredo Pascual said during the opening ceremonies of the 1st International Conference on Open and Distance eLearning (ICODeL) last February 23 at the Century Park Hotel in Manila.

Organized by the UPOU in line with the celebration of its 17th anniversary, the 1st ICODeL consisted of pre-conference workshops on February 22 and a twoday conference that featured six plenary speakers and 51 presentations in concurrent sessions.

The ultimate goal of any higher education institution, Pascual continued, must be to seek “the most relevant solutions to our problems.” UPOU, through the ICODeL, has proven its resolve to “find solutions where others only see problems.” The efforts of UPOU and other similar institutions continue to break away traditional barriers to success and competitiveness, he added.

“With a clear vision of where we currently stand and of our future directions, there is no reason why we cannot give our people

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the opportunities they deserve,” Pascual declared.

Senator Edgardo Angara also lauded the UPOU for its pioneering efforts in promoting ODeL in the country. It is his hope, he said, that education will be accessible to all Filipinos through ODeL. Angara, however, lamented the fact that the Philippines has yet to create its ICT backbone—an imperative in a world driven by technology.

UPOU Chancellor Grace Javier Alfonso, meanwhile, stated that “not being present or not being heard or not being seen in today’s global information and communication technology [on] the Web is unacceptable.”

Authentic competitiveness entails the creation of “our own materials the way we want to create them” and showing these to a global audience by propagating the materials on the Web. In the first plenary session that followed the opening ceremonies, Prof. Denise Kirkpatrick, a member of the executive committee of the International Council for Open and Distance Education, discussed the technologies that are “setting new (Continued on page 4)

Rovillos, new UP Baguio chancellor The Board of Regents approved last March 29 the appointment of Dr. Raymundo D. Rovillos as chancellor of UP Baguio (UPB).

He will serve from April 14, 2012 to April 13, 2015. He replaces Dr. Priscilla S. Macansantos.

Rovillos served as dean of the College of Social Sciences of UPB. Among his specializations are Philippine history, Cordillera history, ethnicity and gender studies.

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3rd OVPAA research symposium features PHL biodiversity

CSWCD hosts conference on disaster readiness

presentations and lectures via the Web, and these lectures can be broadcast… not only in campuses within the UP System, but also the campuses of other SUCs. That would really enable us to multiply the capability of UP to be of service to the country,” Pascual said.

The launch was attended by officials of the UP System and constituent universities (CUs), and the heads of Smart Communications and Air 21, UP’s partners in the project. e-UP is part of UP’s 2011-to-2017 strategic plan. The project is expected to also improve internal operations of the UP System by speeding up academic transactions, data collection, and report generation.

In the next three years, e-UP will help position the university as a leading institution in Asia-Pacific. It is also hoped that the project will enable UP to assume a leadership role in the development of a globally-competitive Philippines.

SHS grad leads global leprosy program of WHO Rolando O. Borrinaga, UP-SHS-Palo, Leyte

A graduate of the UP Manila (UPM) School of Health Sciences (SHS) in Palo, Leyte, was appointed last December 20 as the new Team Leader of the Global Leprosy Program of the World Health Organization (WHO).

Dr. Sumana Baru of Bangladesh was Regional Advisor and Regional Focal Person for the Leprosy Elimination Program of the WHO Southeast Asia Region, with headquarters in New Delhi, India, prior to his promotion as Team Leader of the global program.

In the WHO system, a Team Leader is the equivalent of a Director for selected programs.

Community-based training

Barua went through the different stages of the “step-ladder” curriculum and community-based training of the UP(Continued on page 4)

ERDT launches program to boost IC design capability Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta

Much of the electronics technology together “the government, academe that drives modern societies today relies and industry sectors to promote and on integrated circuits or ICs, leading exchange ideas, leading towards the overall to the development of the field of development of our IC design industry,” UP microelectronics and IC design. Nearly half Diliman ERDT Project Leader Menandro of the Philippines’ exports are from the Berana said in his welcome address in country’s semiconductor and electronics behalf of UP College of Engineering Dean manufacturing industry. However, for and ERDT Program Leader Aura Matias. the country to move up the value chain, “We have been doing g reat in academe, government and industry must manufacturing, and I think we should work together to stimulate the growth and continue to do this,” said Eye-C Program development of microelectronics IC design leader Christian Raymund Roque. “But in the country. manufacturing becomes a losing proposition With this vision in mind, the Department when our neighbors are trying to compete of Science and Technology (DOST) with us head-on in manufacturing. At the through the Engineering Research and same time, [we must] look at parts of the Development for Technology (ERDT) (Continued on page 7) Program launched the “Eye-C Program: Design of a VisionCapable Microcontroller IC for a Robot Explorer.”

Attending the launch, held last January 31 at the Astoria Plaza Hotel with the theme “Promoting Microelectronics Design Awareness and Capability in the Philippines,” were representatives from the ERDT Consortium member-universities and representatives from government agencies and the semiconductor and electronics industry.

The launch brought Participants register online for the 1st International Conference on ODeL. (See adjacent article.)

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UP Baguio rallies to save Luneta Hill trees

Profs assess food and nutrition in evacuation centers Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc

How about developing nutrient-dense food products as “disaster commodities”?

This was one of the recommendations of Profs. Rowena Grace Rumbaoa and Lorena Tengco of the UP Diliman (UPD) College of Home Economics (CHE) Department of Food Science and Nutrition (DFSN) during their assessment of the food and nutrition situation in selected evacuation centers and a UP outreach from January 27 to 29, 2012 in flood-stricken Iligan City.

Both said the college has a role to play in providing education “before, during and after a disaster. For instance, the members of the Disaster Management Team in disaster-prone areas may be oriented about Food Safety and Meal Preparation even before a disaster strikes.”

The “Report on the Assessment of Food Safety and Nutrition Concerns in Selected Evacuation Centers in Iligan City” added that the Pilot Food Plant of the CHE “may explore the development of low-cost but nutrient-dense food products which can provide immediate relief to the victims of disasters. The technology may even be passed on to local producers so they can independently prepare their own ‘disaster commodities.’”

CHE and the UP Manila Ugnayan ng Pahinungod engaged in a joint activity under Task Force Sendong of the UP System. Pahinungod had invited CHE to participate in the medical team specifically to assess the food safety and nutrition concerns in the evacuation sites. Food scientist Rumbaoa and nutritionist Tengco volunteered.

Earlier, a team composed of experts from the UPM-Philippine General Hospital (PGH) and the National Institute of Geological Sciences, forensic pathologists

april 2012

3rd OVPAA research symposium features PHL biodiversity Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

Eight speakers presented various aspects of Philippine biodiversity and discovery during the third Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs (OVPAA) Research Symposium last March 5 at the Marine Science Institute (MSI), UP Diliman (UPD).

They were Prof. Flora Katz of the Fogarty International Center, US National Institutes of Health; Prof. Margo Haygood of the Oregon Health and Science University; VPAA Gisela Concepcion; Prof. Gary Rosenberg of the Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia; Prof.

Eric Schmidt of the University of Utah; and Joshua Torres and Marvin Altamia of UPD.

Hosting a dinner for the participants of the 1st National Conference on Indigenous Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) on March 29, President Pascual chats with representatives of the indigenous communities. Prior to the meal, the participants performed a ritual for good health and blessings for the president and his wife.

from UPM-PGH and DNA experts from UPD was organized by the UP System to respond to the disaster.

The team was led by Vice-President for Public Affairs J. Prospero De Vera III. It flew to Iligan City from December 27 to 29 last year to provide medical relief and determine how UP can best help in the relief and rehabilitation efforts.

On the second visit, the CHE faculty and Pahinungod team visited five evacuation

CIDS integrates another batch of environmental studies

Photo by Abraham Arboleda

Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc

President Pascual and CIDS Executive Director Nicolas confer with NEDA Secretary Paderanga on UP research of possible use to government’s development thrusts.

The UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (CIDS) held another round of presentations of the university’s studies on environment last January 30 at the National Institute of Physics, National Science Complex in UP Diliman (UPD).

Aimed at presenting and integrating research for evaluation and identification of gaps in environmental research, the conference “Protect Life, Conserve Life: Changing MAPs, Bridging GAPs” also invited other public agencies to gather feedback and discuss possible collaborations and directions to resolve current issues on studies in Philippine environment.

Katz discussed International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups (ICBGs).

Studying biodiversity, she said, is important to its preservation and sustainability. Drug discovery is one of the factors pushing the study of biodiversity because of the need to fill the pipeline with new drugs.

The rapid deterioration of biodiversity is another reason for its study. It is imperative, she explained, that biodiversity is examined thoroughly so appropriate actions may be taken to ensure its protection. The ICBGs promote the value of biodiversity to its locale and country as well as its relation to the rest of the world. She also emphasized that the ICBGs work under the principle that the countries of study areas must

Photo by Jun Madrid

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Attending the conference were National Economic and Development Authority Director-General and UP professor Cayetano Paderanga Jr., who gave the keynote message, and heads of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), the Department of Agriculture-Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (DA-BFAR), the Department of Health (DOH), the Department of Science and TechnologyPhilippine Council for Health Research and Development (DOST-PCHRD), the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC),

sites. The team administered vaccines and distributed medicine and relief goods. They observed that water distribution was still to be restored. Of the five evacuation sites, only one had a community kitchen which was still under construction. The same site received cooked vegetables weekly from the Department of Agriculture.

Rumbaoa and Tengco observed that tent cities were on unpaved land and prone to dust and water accumulation. The facilities for warehousing food were also inadequate.

Facilities for hand washing, dish washing and bathing were not separate. There was evidence of improper food waste disposal in some areas. Cooking of dry rations was common practice. They included rice, noodles, sardines, coffee and other canned goods. Relief food was “generally of poor quality, in terms of amount and variety.” Some evacuees, however, had begun to consume more nutritious food like vegetables. “ M o s t o f t h e ch i l d r e n l o o ke d underweight, stunted and/or wasted (thin),” the report said.

The two further concluded that “more information is necessary to best address the needs of the affected families and individuals depending on the type of disaster and the phase of [d]isaster [m]anagement… and how this assistance will be delivered most efficiently.” the DOST-Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA), the Department of Interior and Local Government, and the Department of Education (DepEd).

In his welcome remarks, UP President Alfredo Pascual once again referred to UP’s leadership role in generating knowledge to help government protect the environment and halt its degradation. CIDS Executive Director Marilou Nicolas reiterated UP’s consideration of environment as a priority area for research, as attested to by the amount of UP studies on the (Continued on page 5)

benefit from discoveries resulting from their biodiversity.

Haygood then gave an overview of a specific ICBG, the Philippine Mollusk Symbiont (PMS). This project is the youngest of all ICBGs even though the country has been considered a “hotspot for marine biodiversity.” Apart from the country’s rich marine resources, studying Philippine biodiversity is essential because of the “burgeoning human population.”

Central to the operations of the PMSICBG is the MSI, which coordinates with local government units, national government agencies, and international institutions. There are still challenges to be overcome, however. Haygood enumerated three: conser vation of biodiversity, commercialization of discoveries, and availability of career opportunities.

Concepcion described other research endeavors focused on Philippine biodiversity. She described the work being done under the PharmaSeas project, which aims to discover new drugs through the study of cone snails and corals. The project is a collaborative effort between the MSI and the Department of Science and Technology. Another endeavor that will boost biodiversity research is the newlyestablished Philippine Genome Center at the University.

The Philippines clearly warrants its hotspot status, declared Rosenberg, who also talked about the PMS-ICBG. His examination of existing literature when he estimated the number of marine mollusk species led him to conclude that the country has likely more than 10,000, including unknown species. This figure signifies that the Philippines has 20 percent of the world’s marine mollusk species. Because of the sheer number of marine mollusk species, there is a need to build taxonomic expertise in the country, Rosenberg stated.

The scientific community has always been aware that the discovery of new drugs remains a big challenge, Schmidt said in his presentation about mollusk symbionts following Rosenberg’s. Novel chemistry from these symbionts must be produced, he explained. This is one of the PMS-ICBG’s tasks. Schmidt proposed possible solutions to the drug discovery problem: be innovative in improving the purification of extracted materials, establish new procedures for screening extracted materials, and target new habitats.

Torres and Altamia, who are both doing research under the PMS-ICBG program, were the last presenters in the symposium.

Torres said that his group’s study of symbiotic pyrones in Conus rolani led them to assume that these pyrones are used for chemical signals, predation, and protection.

He added that more work needs to done for their research to be conclusive. Altamia, on the other hand, briefly discussed his group’s research on shipworms and their symbionts.

They found that shipworms have different symbionts apart from the more known Teredinibacter turnerae. His group, has, in fact, discovered ten new cellulolytic isolates and one non-cellulolytic isolate—all of which are non-Teredinibacter turnerae. Their research thus far has led them to assume that a division of labor exists among symbionts in shipworms.

The third OVPAA Research Symposium was organized in cooperation with the PMSICBG. The OVPAA Research Symposium is a series of fora that aims to disseminate information about the University’s research projects. According to Concepcion, it will be conducted in various constituent universities throughout the UP System.

april 2012

BALITANG UNYON

COMMENTARY

Mga Lakad sa Iloilo at Cebu

Nitong nakaraang Marso 14-16, 2012, naglunsad ng konsultasyon sina Staff Regent Hon. Jossel Ebesate, ang kanyang Chief of Staff Buboy Cabrera, Pambansang Ingat-yaman ng AUPWU na si Concepcion Marquina at ang Pambansang Tagapangulo ng AUPAEU na si Prop.

Ramon Guillermo sa UP Cebu, UP Iloilo at UP Miag-ao. Nagsagawa ng diseminasyon ng impormasyon hinggil sa mga alituntunin ng pagpapatupad ng 10 Days Service Recognition Pay (SRP) at ng konsultasyon hinggil sa mga posibleng amyenda sa mga alituntuning ito. Maraming dumalo at lumahok sa mga naturang konsultasyon na mga kawani at REPS sa UP Cebu, UP Iloilo at UP Miag-ao. Mainit ang pagtanggap sa balita hinggil sa napakagandang benepisyong ito para sa mga magreretiro sa UP. Dumalo o nagpadalo ng kinatawan, upang magbigay ng pambungad na pananalita, ang lahat ng matataas na opisyal ng Cebu, Iloilo at Miag-ao. Nakapaglunsad din ang dalawang unyon ng magkakahiwalay na konsultasyon sa hanay ng mga kawani sa isang banda at ng mga faculty at REPS sa kabilang banda.

of fundamentality and essentiality—which do not admit of change – be accorded their rightful place of value.

A few questions must be answered. First, by way of reminder, what does the GEP consist of ? Second, what are the main goals of this academic program? Third, what are at issue in the operationalization and implementation of the GEP? Fourth, what academic approaches/ strategies should be used in carrying out the Program?

The answer to the first question is that the GEP consists of areas containing the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, and education with mathematics and philosophy as disciplines for expansion.

The GE courses which have been based on the areas/disciplines of study just cited are titled either as general, introduction to, elements of, essentials of, or fundamentals of. Each course represents an area or discipline aimed at meeting the objectives of providing students the necessary facts, a grasp of perspective, and a working knowledge of life’s common experiences and concerns as befit the informed and educated status of a future UP graduate. As such, the taking Chancellor Espinosa and Rep. Tinio stand side by side as they bury a time capsule at the construction of the GE courses in disciplinary forms is inescapable, and academic excellence site of the new union building, as other UPV and UPV union officials stand witness.

Party-list ACT (Alliance of Concerned The P2-million two-storey building, should resul from a liberal mode of teaching Teachers) Representative Antonio Tinio led which will be funded from the appropriation the courses.

Once almost all the disciplined-based the ground-breaking for the construction of the Priority Development Assistance courses have been taken can interdisciplinary of the All-UP Workers Alliance Building Fund of Tinio, will house the offices of last March 9 at the UP Visayas (UPV) Iloilo the All-UP Workers Union and All UP or multidisciplinary courses in which City campus.

Academic Workers Union, which are problems and issues are the centerpoints of Assisting Tinio were Chancellor currently the negotiating unions of the study be offered. This is evidently advisable during the third and fourth year levels of a Rommel Espinosa, Vice-Chancellor for UPV personnel.

Administration Nestor Yunque, ViceThe facility will also accommodate student’s university life. This is also the time Chancellor for Academic Affairs Emilia teachers from Western Visayas who need when commitment-building and advocacy Yap, Vice-Chancellor for Planning and a venue for conferences and meetings. are more likely to be developed among Development Evelyn Belleza and the The Department of Public Works and students.

T he operationalization and/ or officers of the All-UP Workers Union– Highways - Iloilo City District Engineering implementation of GE courses requires Iloilo Chapter and All-UP Academic Office will construct the building. certain criteria for evaluation. These are Employees Union–Iloilo Chapter.

Other officials of the university, unity of purpose, order in diversity, and A Timalay, a traditional Visayan rite for members of both unions, and students interrelationship among the areas as stated house building, was also held during the and guests also witnessed the groundby Professor Poblador in his challenging ceremony. breaking. (Anna Razel L. Ramirez) This paper is a response to the article of Prof. Niceto S. Poblador (Pls. see UP Newsletter, Vol. XXXIII, No. 2; Diliman: Quezon City, Feb. 2012, P.7) entitled “Rethinking UP’s GE program-yet again.”

As an established institution of higher learning, the University of the Philippines

needs to re-evaluate and retain the General Education Program on an original and substantial basis. But it must also continue its primary endeavor to lead in creating and envisioning meaningful and positive changes in individual lives and in Philippine society. It is imperative in this regard that the principles

Rep. Tinio leads groundbreaking for UPV Union Building

Photo courtesy of UPV-IPO

Nagpatawag ang administrasyon ni Pangulong Alfredo E. Pascual nitong nakaraang Marso 23, 2012 ng konsultasyon sa lahat ng mga pangunahing sektor sa Unibersidad hinggil sa badyet ng UP para sa taong 2013. Inilahad ni Vice-President for Planning and Finance Lisa Grace S. Bersales ang pangkalahatang balangkas ng badyet at ipinaliwanag ang kasalukuyang proseso ng pagbubuo na pinagdadaanan nito. Dumalo ang mga kinatawan ng mga kawani, faculty at REPS mula sa All-UP Workers Union (AUPWU), All-UP Academic Employees Union (AUPAEU). Dumating din ang Staff Regent Jossel Ebesate, Student Regent Krissy Conti at ang mga kinatawan ng mga Student Council.

Naging tampok sa mga usapin ang pagtalakay sa mga prioridad ng badyet, ang kahilingan sa pag-fill up ng mga item, ang napakaraming isyu ng mga magaaral kaugnay ng mga bayarin atbp. Sa pamamagitan ng ganitong mga konsultasyon ay napapatunayan ng administrasyon ni Pang. Pascual ang komitment nito sa bukas at demokratikong pamamalakad sa pamantasan. Inaasahan ng AUPWU at AUPAEU na magpapatuloy at lalo pang uunlad ang ganitong mga pamamaraan sa hinaharap.

Aniceta Manuel-Ortinero, Ph.D

The GEP: Original Position and Critical Change

Ulat ng AUPAEU Konsultasyon sa UP Budget

U.P. Newsletter 3

(Continued on page 10)

Kaso ni Dekano Avila

Patuloy ang panawagan ng pinagsanib na mga sector ng All-UP Workers Alliance (AUPWA) para sa pag papatupad ng desisyon ng Administrative Disciplinary Tribunal (ADT) sa kaso nina Dekano Enrique Avila, Prop. Ernesto Pineda and Mr. Alsidry Sharif. Para maigiit ito, nagtipon-tipon ang mga kawani, REPS at faculty sa harapan ng Quezon Hall sa araw ng pagpupulong ng BOR nitong Marso 29, 2012. Dumalo sa pagkakataong ito ang

Photo courtesy of UPV-IPO

UPV is first to release SRP for its retirees

Chancellor Espinosa and Staff Regent Ebesate lead a consultation on SRP implementation.

maraming estudyante at kinatawang guro mula pa sa UP Cebu upang maipaabot sa BOR ang kanilang paninindigan.

Sa kanyang talumpati, ipinahayag ng Pangulo ng Iloilo Tsapter ng AUPAEU, Prop. Lawlita Cabahug, ang kanyang mariing pagtutol sa pagpapagaan ng ipapataw na kaparusahan sa tatlong nabanggit, lalo na kay Dekano Avila, dahil diumano sa pagkakahiwalay ng mga kaso ng administrador sa kanilang istatus bilang faculty.

Sa kasamaang-palad ay hindi muli UP Visayas (UPV) was the first among the constituent universities of the UP System to release the Service Recognition Pay (SRP) for its retirees The recipients of the pioneer grant were Marcelino Espinosa Jr. of the College of Arts and Sciences, Godofredo Vistavilla of the Security Service Force, Teofisto Villa of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and Carlos Nava of the Campus maintenance and Development Office.

The SRP is an additional 10 days’ benefits for every calendar year of service for administrative staff and REPs. It is an unexpected financial benefit for retiring staff and REPS, as the grant is in addition to their other retirement benefits, which include their GSIS claims and monetized leave credits.

Effective April 1, 2011, all regular fulltime administrative staff and REPs who retired at the age of 65 on the said date and onwards and those who avail of optional retirement due to severe illness as defined

by PhilHealth will be granted the SRP.

nagbaba ng pinal na desisyon hinggil sa kaso ang BOR at nagbigay pa muli ng pagkakataon kay Avila na dagdagan ang kanyang apela.

Hindi bibitiw at ipagpapatuloy ng lahat ng sektor ang laban para sa tunay na hustisya sa UP Cebu.

Accident Insurance Card

Patuloy ang panawagan ng AUPAEU sa mga kasapi ng unyon na kunin na ang kanilang libreng accident insurance card sa opisina ng kanilang mga unyon. (Sa Diliman ay sa Rm. 102, Vinzons Hall.)

The SRP does not include the length of time the employee is without pay for those on full-time study leave without pay, and those on vacation and sick leave without pay. Neither is length of secondment counted. The years during which fulltime administrative employee and REPS were on substitute, contractual and casual employment in the University are not counted either. Non-regular employees (contractual, casual, project and job order) do not qualify for the grant.

The SRP guidelines were approved during the 1277th Meeting of the Board of Regents last January 26. SRP was granted on the initiative of the All UP Workers Alliance.

A consultation on the implementation of the grant was conducted by Staff Regent Jossel Ebesate and the national officers of the All-UP Workers Union last March 15 and 16 at the Iloilo City and Miagao campuses and at the Brackish Water Aquaculture Station in Leganes, Iloilo.

(Anna Razel L. Ramirez)

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april 2012

Villar inaugurates IPB hibiscus propagation CWS inaugurates extension wing mist house Mervin John C. de Roma Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc particularly through livelihood projects.

President Alfredo Pascual was represented

by Mrs. Carmen Pascual.

Villar pledged her “continued support for all the worthy works of the [CWS].”

The plaque she received was an image of the CWS symbol, Dakila.

According to for mer UP Regent Nelia Gonzalez, president of the CWS Foundation Inc., the construction project was born in 2009 in response to the need of the Center for a conference room and a bigger library. She said members of the Foundation board conducted a fund-raising campaign and saw to the construction. “We put our mind and heart into it,” Gonzalez said, keeping in mind that they were working for “a space where women can read, discuss, and learn from each other” and also to provide a “homebase to meet and gather.”

CWS Director Sylvia EstradaClaudio saw the construction of the wing as proof of women’s ability to provision, work with love, and offer love.

CWS Foundation President and former Regent Nelia Gonzalez talk to Dakila honoree Cynthia Villar undertaken in the Villar Sipag Center Site in Pulang Lupa 1, Las Piñas, which she and her husband Senator Manuel Villar envision as a social institute for poverty alleviation.

The center will have different laboratories promoting specific technologies or “models for poverty reduction.” The rationale is to address the communities’ different preferences and situations in the campaign for poverty reduction.

during the inauguration of the center’s extension wing. Also present to cut the ribbon were (from left) Foundation Treasurer Fredesvinda Consunji, CWS Director Sylvia Estrada-Claudio and Mrs. Carmen Pascual who delivered President Pascual’s message.

VP Zamora visit generates community project ideas for UPMin Vice-President for Development Elvira Zamora visited UP Mindanao (UPMin) last February 3 and 4 upon the invitation of Chancellor Gilda Rivero. VP Zamora was accompanied by Architect Christopher Espina, director of the UP Office of Design and Planning Initiatives.

The visit of Zamora and Espina to UPMin and its land reservations generated ideas for extension and community projects that could be undertaken in partnership with the private sector to improve conditions in surrounding communities and encourage development.

Zamora was briefed by Chancellor Rivero on the UPMin Strategic Plan, which evolved from the Medium Term Development Plan prepared at the start of Chancellor Rivero’s term in 2007, and which served as the basis for the Strategic Plan. Zamora spoke about e-UP and other priority programs of President Alfredo Pascual’s administration as strategies to achieve excellence in the academic, operational and financial aspects of his administration.

After the meeting with the UPMin

SHS grad leads global leprosy program of WHO SHS, where he obtained his B.S. degree in Community Health in 1983 and Doctor of Medicine degree in 1989.

Following graduation from SHS, he returned to Chittagong, Bangladesh, his hometown, where he initiated community health development projects and lectured to medical students on primary health care work at the Department of Community Medicine of the University of Sciences and Technology, applying the training he received at UP-SHS. After a period of return-service in Bangladesh, he proceeded to Japan for graduate studies at the Graduate School of International Health of the prestigious University of Tokyo. He obtained his Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in 1996 and his Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in International Health Policy and Planning in 1999.

The new extension wing of the UP Center for Women’s Studies (CWS) has provided more room for meetings as well as space for its clientele to browse the Center’s growing inventory of resources.

The extension was inaugurated last March 7, during which the CWS also awarded former Las Piñas Rep. Cynthia Villar with a plaque for her contribution to environmental preservation and women empowerment,

Photo by Abraham Arboleda

Former Representative Cynthia Villar graced the inauguration of the UP Los Baños (UPLB) Institute of Plant Breeding’s (IPB) Hibiscus Propagation Mist House last February 28, a structure she donated to help jump-start the mass propagation of hibiscus in the country and give the poor a viable and sustainable livelihood opportunity. A mist house—or green house with misting devices—ensures faster and more efficient propagation of plants.

Villar led the ribbon-cutting, during which she was joined by UPLB Chancellor Rex Victor Cruz; College of Agriculture Dean Domingo Angeles; Vice-Chancellor for Planning and Development Fernando Sanchez Jr,; Vice-Chancellor for Research and Extension Vicky Espaldon; IPB Director Jose Hernandez; and IPB Deputy Director Artemio Salazar.

Hernandez recalled that in 2011, UPLB officially launched “Hibiscus rosa-sinensis Cynthia A. Villar” in honor of the former lawmaker’s accomplishments in public service. Hernandez said it was Villar’s idea to mass-propagate the hibiscus and pilot the facility in Las Piñas, where she has initiated livelihood programs.

In 2011, IPB signed a memorandum of agreement with the Villar Foundation to mass-produce the hibiscus. The Foundation provided financial assistance worth P1.1 million to improve propagation facilities, support hibiscus breeding activities, and construct the mist house.

Cruz thanked Villar and stressed that partnering with the private sector like the Villar Foundation puts more value in what the University does. He added that all the technology being generated by UPLB would mean nothing if it could not help alleviate poverty or make a difference in the lives of the poor. “We need to bring science where it matters most—the communities,” said Chancellor Cruz.

Dr. Pablito Magdalita, the man behind the successful hibiscus breeding program in UPLB, talked about the history of hibiscus breeding in the Philippines which started in 1922, and the first initiatives of the university. According to Dr. Magdalita, hibiscus propagation faces a very bright future in the Philippines.

In response, Villar said that many of the technologies being generated cater mostly to the rich and privileged which constitute only about 10 percent of the population. She suggested that technologies be both relevant and understandable to the masses so that they will actually use or apply them.

Villar said that hibiscus propagation is just one of several technologies that will be

Focus on leprosy While pursuing graduate studies, Barua was already involved in the leprosy elimination program of the WHO as a shortterm consultant. He was assigned to evaluate the national leprosy elimination programs of Indonesia in 1996 and Myanmar in 1997. He later performed the same task in Cambodia and Viet Nam in 2001.

He was an assistant professor in various universities in Japan and a consultant of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

Barua joined the WHO full-time in 2002. He was initially posted as Medical Officer and Regional Focal Person for the Leprosy Elimination Program of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, with headquarters in Manila, from April 2002 to July 2007. His work covered 37 WHO member-countries in this region.

Executive Committee, Zamora and Espina, together with Rivero and Land Management Officer Joel Sagadal, proceeded to the 4,100-hectare UPMin Marilog-Arakan Land Reservation straddling Davao City and a portion of Arakan, North Cotabato Province.

At Sitio Ladian, Marilog District, they got a view of the extent of the land and had initial talks on possible assistance to the proposed Tribal Village, including prospective livelihood projects in partnership with private groups and corporations.

On February 4, the team motored to the 2,800-hectare Laak-Veruela Land Reservation, which also straddles two municipalities and provinces, namely Laak (Compostela Valley) and Veruela (Agusan del Sur). The team stopped over at Bgy. Sta. Emilia, Veruela to observe the surrounding conditions in the company of Bgy. Captain Adelo Micutuan. On the way back, the team viewed the Sago Palm Processing Plant, also in Veruela, operated by Agusan Manobos, which had benefited from technical assistance given by UPMin. (Continued from page 1)

From August 2007 to November 2011, he was assigned in New Delhi, India, where his work covered 11 WHO membercountries in the most populated region of the world.

Barua assumed his new position in December 2011. His work as Team Leader covers the six WHO regions around the world.

Innovations Using lessons and insights derived from his community-based training at UP-SHS, Barua has introduced innovative approaches for simplified leprosy case detection in remote areas, which he has been trying to impart to national leprosy program managers down to midwives at the community level.

Known as the “Barua Model” in many countries, one such motivational approach was particularly successful in Myanmar,

UPOU holds 1st Int’l Conference on ODeL (Continued from page 1)

directions, creating new possibilities and making a difference” in the lives of teachers and learners.

Acknowledging the Internet as a powerful tool in education, she added that computer programs are being employed to deliver information and facilitate independent learning as well. Software for mobile devices such as laptops, cellular phones and tablets are being used as learning tools.

The emergence of electronic books, mobile computing and the availability of open education resources have become influential technologies in the learning process. ODeL, which focuses on the learner, benefits greatly from the use of these technologies.

The second plenary session featured three speakers: Prof. Tian Belawati, rector of Universitas Terbuka (UT), Indonesia; Alfonso; and Prof. Tim Eing-Ming Wu, president of The Open University of Kaohsiung (OUK), Taiwan.

Unable to attend, Belawati delivered her talk via recorded video instead. She talked about the UT experience—how, as an exclusively distance education (DE) institution, it caters to more than 640,000 students all over Indonesia through its 37 regional offices. She enumerated three (Continued on page 5)

where formerly shunned patients were encouraged by their fellow villagers to come out and register and receive free treatment from the national leprosy program.

Another approach he is promoting is the involvement of persons affected by leprosy in policy-making and implementation to improve national leprosy services.

Both these approaches have contributed to the dramatic rise in the number of hardto-find new cases detected annually, and who are now receiving treatment, in WHO’s Southeast Asia Region.

Barua has published scientific papers and attended numerous professional conferences and symposia. He is familiar with Bangla, English, Japanese, Tagalog, and the Waray-waray language of Leyte and Samar. (Official press release prepared by the Information, Publication, and Public Affairs Office of UP Manila)

U.P. Newsletter 5

april 2012

UPOU strengthens Tagbilaran Testing Center The UP Open University (UPOU) has established student support centers in different parts of the country to further expand its reach. One of these centers is the UPOU Tagbilaran Testing Center in Bohol.

The UPOU Tagbilaran Testing Center was officially launched in 2009. The construction of the Center was made possible through a P3-million grant by the

Commission on Higher Education (CHEd) titled “Access to Quality Higher Education Through E-Learning,” in partnership with the UPOU and the Tagbilaran City Local Government Unit. One million pesos has been allotted for technical equipment and P2 million for the scholarship program.

From January 19 to 21, 2012, UPOU Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs Ma. Fe Mendoza and Information Office

Director Primo Garcia visited Bohol to strengthen partnership with the Tagbilaran City LGU, promote UPOU programs, seek scholarship takers, and formally turn over the testing center equipment to the Tagbilaran City government.

Last January 19, Mendoza and Garcia guested on Mayor Dan Neri Lim’s radio program on DYTR. They discussed what UPOU is, its programs and advantages,

Maribelle T. EspirituLobendino, UPD-NCTS

The UP National Center for Transportation Studies Foundation Inc. (NCTSFI) donated one brand-new Toyota Vios car and one second-hand Nissan Cefiro car converted to LPG to the UP Diliman Police (UPDP) while the UP National College of Public Administration and Governance (NCPAG) donated four Honda motorcycles to help improve UPD security.

A ceremonial turn-over of the donations was held last February 29 at Quezon Hall. Among the guests of honor were UPD Chancellor Caesar Saloma, National Engineering Center Executive Director and UPD-College of Engineering Dean Aura Matias and UPDP OIC Major Bernie Baltazar.

UPD Vice-Chancellor for Community Affairs Melania Flores, UP School of Urban and Regional Planning Dean Candido Cabrido Jr., and UPD Security Services Ad Hoc Committee Chairman Oscar Ferrer also attended the occasion. NCTSFI President Jose Regin Regidor welcomed them to the ceremony.

In her remarks, Matias hoped that the police force would be able to do a better job in securing the UPD campus. “Wish us more luck so we can give more in the future,” she added.

The vehicles were blessed by Reverend Pastor Victor Jonathan Bote. This was followed by the signing of the deed of donation.

President Pascual consults with former and incumbent local executives of Miagao on issues shared by the UP campus and the larger community.

Accompanied by UP Visayas (UPV) officials, UP President Alfredo Pascual met with the officials of Miagao town who were led by Mayor Julieta Flores last February 29.

Pascual briefed them on the publicprivate partnership (PPP) scheme, the subject of his lecture earlier that morning at the Miagao campus. He pointed out how PPP is being used as means to develop infrastructure in the country. Such a partnership is already in place in UP, especially in the Diliman campus, and future PPP projects are being developed.

Pascual said he envisions PPP projects in agro-industrial development in the Miagao campus in collaboration with the municipality. But he also stressed the importance of developing more recreational facilities on campus.

How UPV and Miagao can jointly address the problem of informal settlers inside the (Continued from page 4) Miagao campus; how UPV can ensure that challenges that they continue to face: the programs and projects it will develop Indonesia’s size, limited IT infrastructure and a strong practice of the face-to-face type of learning. While print materials are intellectual pluralism, cultural diversity, still the most accessible learning tools, UT academic excellence, democracy and service is currently in the process of fine-tuning to society. ODeL, therefore, offers a lot tablet-based learning materials. These are of opportunities for experimentation and multimedia products enhanced by video, innovation.

There are concerns, however, that need simulation and animation from UT print to be addressed. According to Alfonso, the materials and other open educational plurality of ideas requires the designing resources (OER). UT also has a digital library, virtual reading room and has recently of courses that present a range of ideas employed mobile phone technology to and perspectives. The Internet must also conduct tutorials and quizzes and to become a reliable source of information inform students about important dates like and for that to happen, academics must be registration schedules and class deadlines. active in propagating scholarly texts on the Alfonso, the next speaker, emphasized Web. Apart from texts, multimedia must the importance of claiming the ODeL space also be employed to disseminate knowledge for the “Universitas,” the larger community because today’s world is “becoming more of scholars composed of “the state that accustomed to the audio-visual language.” has given us the mandate to operate [and] The non-linearity of the electronic the citizenry from which we draw support.” medium, she said, erodes the “hierarchical She explained that education is a social organization of information” and expands contract and that a university’s role in social the democratic space, thereby providing transformation is to encourage the free an openness that enriches discourse. exchange of ideas that allows its community There is also the problem of instilling the “Universitas ethos” in the electronic to think critically, creatively, collegially.

ODeL, she said, is the infusion of environment. Lastly, the issue of digital concepts—access and equity, resource- divide must be addressed because ICT can sharing, learner-centeredness, flexibility, both expand a university’s reach and exclude active learning, interactivity, ubiquity certain sectors of society.

Wu, like Belawati, discussed his and connectivity—and “Universitas” university’s unique experience. OUK values—academic freedom, humanism, contributes greatly to the development of

UPOU holds 1st Int’l Conference on ODeL

Photo courtesy of UPV-IPO

Cars, motorbikes Pascual meets with Miagao officials Lyncen M. Fernandez donated to UPDP

are environmental friendly; how to gather feedback from the UPV community on what other goods and services Miagao can offer were among the other issues taken up.

The group also discussed employment opportunities in UPV not only for displaced land claimants and their descendants but also for other Miagao residents. Hiring them not only as laborers or as semi-skilled workers but also as administrative workers was suggested.

Also present during the gathering was Erlinda Britanico who was Miagao mayor during the time UP was acquiring the land in Miagao and who extended assistance to the acquisition process.

Accompanying Pascual were UPV Chancellor Rommel Espinosa, ViceChancellor for Planning and Development Evelyn Belleza, Vice-Chancellor for Administration Nestor Yunque; Institute of Fisheries Policy and Development Studies Director Jose Peralta; and Division of Social Sciences professor Pepito Fernandez Jr. Kaohsiung as a learning city. Going by the European Union’s definition, Wu said that a learning city “understands that learning is a key role in promoting city prosperity, society security and individual fulfillment.

It mobilizes human, material and financial resources to broaden learning opportunities for city residents and enhances their potential to enable them to react in accordance to changes in society.” Taking all of these into consideration, he proudly told the conference participants that the OUK has established learning centers that are not only highly accessible to city residents but also provide information in anticipation of their needs. One example is the OUK learning center on human rights that is located inside a subway station.

The second day of the ICODeL had two plenary speakers: Prof. Curt Bonk of Indiana University, USA, in the morning and Professor Emeritus Gajaraj Dhanarajan of the Wawasan Open University, Malaysia.

New technologies result in new delivery methods, according to Bonk. The education landscape is changing dramatically and today, “anyone can learn anything from anyone at any time.” Bonk provided four easy-tounderstand frameworks that can be used by ODeL (Continued on page 11)

and the opportunity for Bohol residents to avail of the scholarship program for career development.

Last January 20, an orientation program was also conducted at the city government’s Sandugo Session Hall. Garcia explained how studying at UPOU is conducted. Mendoza encouraged the people of Bohol to seek lifelong learning for professional growth, through UPOU. Tagbilaran City Councillor Lucille Lagunay and Samuel Cilocilo, UPOU proctors, and Jeanet Busano, a UPOU scholar, assisted the UPOU team in planning the activities in Tagbilaran. Alvie Alip, Yaselle Yambao, Anna Cañas and Pura Amoloza were with the UPOU team for administrative support and assistance.

After the orientation, the UPOU party met with Lim to discuss possible plans for the testing center and to sign the deed of donation to officially turn over the testing center equipment to the city. Lagunay and City Administrator Eduardo Macalandag witnessed for the Tagbilaran LGU, while Mendoza witnessed for the UPOU. To avail of the CHED-UPOU Scholarship in Tagbilaran City, those interested may contact Lucille Lagunay, 2nd Floor, New City Hall, Tagbilaran City, Bohol, call (038)2356348 or can email lucilleyaplagunay@yahoo. com.ph. (Anna Cañas)

CIDS integrates another batch of environmental studies (Continued from page 2)

subject, although most of these are not yet integrated, or reported together.

Prof. Alice Joan Ferrer of UP Visayas presented university research work on biodiversity and environmental protection; Prof. Agnes Rola of UP Los Baños (UPLB) and Prof. Gil Jacinto of UPD, on food security; Profs. Pilarita Rivera and Lydia Leonardo, environmental health; Prof.

Benito Pacheco of UPD, disaster risk management and climate change; Profs. Ma. Lourdes Rebullida and Mario delos Reyes of UPD, community planning, governance and sustainable development; and Prof.

Rosanelia Yangco of UPD, environmental education. The conference was moderated

by Prof. Perry Ong of UPD. Ferrer enumerated the research areas in environment where UP excels: marine science in UPD; biotechnology, biofuel, and forest biodiversity in UPLB; oil spill response in UP Visayas (UPV); and sago in UP Mindanao (UPMin). Environmental research in UP with policy impact includes UP Baguio’s (UPB) study on human effects on the ecology of Upper Abra River, UPLB’s development of a sustainable financing mechanism for the conservation of the Ifugao Rice Terraces, and UPV’s evaluation of fisheries management options to protect biodiversity in the Visayan seas and reversion of fishponds to mangrove forests.

She pointed to the need for an information system in UP that will link existing databases in the constituent universities (CUs). Other gaps include the need for interdisciplinary research in the area of food security and updated and reliable databases in fisheries, according to Rola and Jacinto. Leonardo mentioned gaps in the study on the safety of genetically modified organisms, street food, food supplements and fortified food.

Rebullida pushed for a Social Protection Agenda in her talk “Community Planning and Governance.” In discussing disaster risk management and climate change, Pacheco noted that projects on these are not data-based.

6 U.P. Newsletter

april 2012

Profs. Pepito Fernandez Jr. and Rodelio Subade, faculty members of the Division of Social Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences of UP Visayas, won the Best Paper Award in the Outreach/Extension Category in the 5th International Conference and Scientific Meeting of the Environmental Education Network of the Philippines (EENP) held from February 15 to 17, 2012 at Hotel Del Rio, Iloilo City.

Fernandez and Subade’s paper, “Pursuing Bioregionalism Towards Sustainable Regional Development of Metro Iloilo –Guimaras: A Case for the Tigum-aganan Watershed,” was written with Gregory Benjamin Luz of the Canadian Urban Institute Bioregion Initiative Project, Iloilo City.

The paper was based on the results of a research conducted in January and February 2012 that assessed the present status and prospects of pursuing a multilevel governance system for urban development and watershed management led by the Metro Iloillo-Guimaras Economic Development Council (MIGEDC) and its partners.

T h e p a p e r n o t e d t h e l a ck o f organizational capacity of traditional urban governance systems in managing their affairs in the face of complex and interconnected issues related to environmental disasters, rapid urbanization, and the need to balance economic growth with natural resource conservation. But the paper also saw traditional political boundaries and local interests as eventually giving way to bioregional coalitions and watershed-based agendas.

Secretary Nereus Acosta, Presidential Adviser on Environment, delivered the keynote address.

Plenary papers were on the following topics: 1.) “Coral Reefs and Associated Ecosystems: Beyond Fisheries and Markets”

by Dr. Porfirio Aliño, Professor, UP Marine Science Institute; 2.) “Exploratory Analysis of Color Polymorphism in Larval American Lobster” by Victoria Jane Howse, Fisheries and Marine Science Institute of Memorial University, Canada; 3.) “Dark Green Schools: EENP’s Response to Climate Change” by Dr. Angelina P. Galang, Green Convergence; 4.) Environmental Education in the Context of CHED Issuances” by Dr. Virginia Resurrecion, CHED Regional Director IV; and 5.) “Graphic Information system in Water Resource Management”

by Owen Lagunday, Geodata Systems, Tech. Inc. The theme of the conference was “Environmental Education for Adaptive Water Resource Management.” A total of

CMC rewards exemplary constituents Photo by Abraham Arboleda

UPV profs win best paper award in EENP int’l conference 87 papers were presented in relation to the theme, covering various topics on water resource management. Other related topics included water quality research, freshwater systems such as lakes and rivers, water supply and sanitation, rainwater/ballast water, coastal/marine waters, fish/fishery research, mangroves/soil erosion, floods and flooding, global warming, climate change, agroecosystems, and livelihood.

EENP, which organized the conference, is now called the Philippine Network of Educators on Environment (PNEE).

The John B. Lacson Foundation Maritime University hosted the event. (Lyncen M. Fernandez and Gleny N. Mendoza)

Prof. Nicanor Tiongson receives certificate of recognition.

UP NEC celebrates 34th anniversary Celeste Ann Castillo Llaneta

“The growth and research leadership provided by the [UP National Engineering Center] since its establishment three decades ago is perhaps the model that our leaders in Congress had in their mind when they passed RA 9500 and vested UP, as the national university, with the mission to provide a unique and distinctive leadership in higher education and development.”

This tribute to the impact the NEC has on the University and its College of Engineering, as well as on the government and industry sectors, was delivered by UP Vice-President for Public Affairs J. Prospero De Vera III during the NEC’s celebration of its 34th anniversary which had the theme “Trailblazing towards National Development.” The short program was held last January 27 at the Audiovisual Room of Juinio Hall.

College of Engineering Dean and NEC Executive Director Aura Matias reiterated the new NEC vision—to be the hub of engineering innovation and technology—and its mission to provide and sustain expanding resources of technical expertise, information in partnership with government, industry and academe for accelerated national development and well-being.

Among the accomplishments of the NEC in the past year were the renovation of the administrative and executive director’s offices, which were showcased with a tour of the facilities after the program;

The College of Mass Communication (CMC) of UP Diliman (UPD) capped its 47th founding anniversary celebrations with a recognition ceremony for its outstanding students, faculty members, staff members and alumni at the CMC Auditorium last March 9.

The awardees were screened based on their performance, continuing education, extension service, published outputs, prestige earned for the college, and length of service, among other qualifications.

CMC Dean Roland Tolentino said the program is one of UP’s incentives to enhance the recipients’ performance and productivity.

Prof. Georgina Encanto, former CMC dean, said the certificates awarded to them represent “psychic income” and affirm the recipients’ “sense of fulfillment.”

“It’s really fun in MassComm,” she said, referring to the college’s exciting mix of people and activities. She encouraged everyone in the college to continue doing

their jobs well.

In their acceptance speeches, student awardees Ma. Angela Sebastian (Endeavour Awards scholar in RMIT University, Australia) and Jennifer Ortuoste (2011 Palanca Awards winner for her essay “The Turn for Home: Memories of Santa Ana Park”) said the skills, knowledge and abilities they gained from CMC helped them “produce much from little” and to share Filipino culture with the world.

Faculty awardees Sari Dalena and Victor Avecilla said they enjoy teaching in the college. Avecilla said they stay youthful and continue to learn by exchanging fresh ideas with students.

The week-long celebration with the theme “Magpasiklab, Plaridel!” consisted of exhibits, the Communication Research alumni homecoming, the Plaridel Journal launch, a discussion series on the future of communication and media studies, and the CMC Student Council-led cultural night.

the development of the NEC website; and the publication of several issues of the Philippine Engineering Journal and NEC technical bulletins.

The NEC also trained 2,034 participants in 2011 (1,893 participants in 2010) under their professional engineering training program, offering 69 training programs in 2011 including two new certificate programs in cement technology, and new training programs in Basic Solar Photovoltaics through the UP Electrical and Electronic Engineering Institute (EEI), Global Navigation satellite system for Land Surveyors, and Precision Alignment Methods.

The NEC also offered off-campus training programs for Analog Devices Inc. (statistical design of experiments and operations research tools and techniques); the International Committee of the Red Cross (construction project management); L’Oreal Philippines, Inc. (demand forecasting); National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (power system engineering); and Solid Cement (cement technology).

Other accomplishments of the NEC include the water demand study for Manila Water and Maynilad; the electric vehicle study on public utilities; the national power forum; and the ocean renewable planning workshop. For 2012, the NEC has lined plans and programs that include the attainment of Level II accreditation under the Philippine Quality Challenge of the Department of Trade and Industry, and accreditation as the Certified Training Provider of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and other government certifying institutions; the development of additional training facilities; and the creation of on-campus training programs, new short courses and certification programs.

NEC Deputy Executive Director Adeline Pacia delivered the welcome remarks and, along with Prof. Rowaldo Del Mundo, gave a presentation on the NEC general framework.

Awards were also presented to outstanding lecturers/resource persons of 2011: Prof. Joseph Gerard Reyes and Prof. Matthew Oliver Rimal, both faculty members of the College, and Engr. Renato Ong, partner from industry. A special award for outstanding program director, on the other hand, was presented to Prof. Rowaldo del Mundo.

UPOU celebrates 17 years, awards In between holding the two-day faculty 1st International Conference on Open

Photo courtesy of UPV-IPO

Arlyn VCD Palisoc Romualdo

The UPV professors as they present their paper at the international conference.

and Distance e-Learning, the UP Open University (UPOU) community marked its 17th anniversary with a short program at the Century Park Hotel, Manila last February 23.

UP President Alfredo Pascual and UPOU Alumni Foundation, Inc. (UPOUFI) President Juan Miguel Zubiri delivered congratulatory remarks, lauding the UPOU for consistently innovating its approaches to Open and Distance e-Learning. Pascual said that “as a constituent university of the country’s national university, [UPOU has] developed [its] programs and methods with our people’s best interests in mind.”

In her message, UPOU Chancellor Grace Javier Alfonso briefly recounted how UPOU has progressed by adjusting to the demands and needs of the times. She also said that partnerships with other academic institutions, government agencies and the (Continued on page 10)

april 2012

CSWCD hosts conference on disaster readiness CSWCD Dean Rosalinda Ofreneo said the Philippines heads the United Nations 2011 list of countries most vulnerable to disasters, thus the need for better preparedness and resiliency and continuing advocacy and community work in disaster risk reduction (DRR).

Ofreneo also pointed out the importance of mainstreaming DRR to promote the enjoyment of all human rights anywhere in the world and to ensure sustainability and

Photo by Abraham Arboleda

To promote disaster preparedness; share lessons from the recent calamities in Japan, Indonesia and the Philippines; and strengthen linkages among conference participants, the UP Diliman (UPD) College of Social Work and Community Development (CSWCD) gathered close to 100 leaders and development workers last February 23 and 24 at the Bulwagang Tandang Sora, CSWCD Complex, UP Diliman, Quezon City.

Japan College of Social Work professor Yukio Yamaguchi, University of Indonesia professor Rissalwan Lubis, and Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) director Renato Solidum Jr. reply to questions raised by participants during the open forum.

ERDT launches new program to boost country’s (Continued from page 1) IC design capability value chain where we could grow.”

The need for the country to “move up the value chain” in terms of semiconductor and electronics manufacturing was particularly felt a few years ago when Intel removed its assembly plant from the country and transferred it to Vietnam.

However, according to Roque, in 2007 two different government initiatives were set in motion to address the issue: the establishment of the Congressional Commission on Science & Technology and Engineering (COMSTE), and the ERDT under the DOST. The latter aims to boost the number of research scientists and engineers (RSEs) with graduate degrees working on solutions to persistent problems in, and to contribute to national development.

At around the same time, the UP Microelectronics Laboratory of the UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering I n s t i t u t e l a u n c h e d “ D e ve l o p i n g Microelectronics in the Academe,” a DOST-funded chip design program under the ERDT’s semiconductor and electronics research track.

“The role of the program was to propagate the role of microelectronics

around the Philippines by setting up collaborations with different universities and work with them to better integrate microelectronics into the curriculum,” said Roque.

Under this program, which was undertaken through collaboration with Synopsis Pte. Ltd. of Singapore, graduate and undergraduate students of the UP Electrical and Electronics Engineering Institute (EEEI) successfully built an eight-bit fixed-point microcontroller for autonomous systems, or EFA for short.

The EFA was designed and implemented by graduate and undergraduate affiliates of the Intel Microprocessors Laboratory and Microlab of the EEEI. After fabrication in September 2009, the chip underwent physical testing under the mobile robotics or mobot laboratory, where it was mounted on a board to interface it with an existing mobot platform which was programmed to perform line-following using the chip.

This enabled the students to develop skills needed for IC design.

The program involved students from all ERDT the consortium-member universities, with UP Diliman, Ateneo De Manila University and De La Salle

Photo by Jonathan Madrid

(Continued on page 9)

KIZUNA: COMING TOGETHER FOR JAPAN Japanese students perform a traditional Japanese dance during ceremonies at the UP Diliman Amphitheater hosted by the university to commemorate the first anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

U.P. Newsletter 7

Fred Dabu

cooperation among organizations involved in DRR. Japan Foundation Philippines Director Shuji Takatori urged participants to discover solutions through linkage among people, communities, companies, districts, and countries, and to improve the capacity for reconstruction after calamities.

Hazards and community resilience

Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Undersecretary Graciano Yumul Jr. said “there is more water being poured on land now” compared to ten years ago due to climate change.

As regards the 1990 Luzon, 1995 Kobe, 2004 Indian Ocean, 2011 Northeast Japan and 2012 Negros Oriental earthquakes, Yumul said their social impact and costs are “magnitudes higher in [the] low income countries.” The governments of rich countries are also better able to protect their people and to enforce building codes.

Yumul said government spending for damaged structures could have been better utilized for education. He pointed out that “technology, information and awareness, human capital development, infrastructure, governance, and institutional support” enhance the country’s preparedness and adaptive capacity. He added that DRR management is also an economic issue.

He recommended a DRR and management capacity that is “proactive, appropriate, flexible, quick, and sustainable” for communities. Yumul reminded the participants to utilize “relevant concepts from psychology, sociology, philosophy and political sciences, among others,” in DRR and management.

National disaster situations

CSWCD professor Emmanuel Luna revealed that the Philippines is 17 times more vulnerable to disasters than Japan.

An average of 20 typhoons strike the Philippines every year. According to the 2011 World Risk Index, the Philippines ranks third in vulnerability to climate change, with a score of 24.32 percent.

In addition to meteorological hazards, earthquakes in the Pacific can trigger tsunamis; and volcanoes, while scenic, are potentially destructive.

Luna said disasters cost the Philippines an “average of P19.7 billion, or 0.5 percent of our annual national GDP” between 1990 and 2006. Typhoons Ondoy and Pepeng, meanwhile, cost “P206 billion in damages, or roughly 10 times the country’s annual average.”

The poor and most vulnerable always bear the greater burden of these costs.

“Disasters destroy the few remaining assets of the poor, damage food production, undermine the already weak national and local infrastructure, and leave millions without access to basic urban and rural services,” Luna explained.

Luna noted that according to the United Nations University Institute for Environment and Human Security and Alliance of Development Work, “Disasters cannot be attributed to meteorological or geological phenomena only, but are determined also by social structures and processes within a society such as level of education, extent of poverty, food situation or functioning of government institutions.”

Luna pointed out that Philippine disasters are aggravated by large-scale mining and logging activities, real estate development in dangerous areas, and unprepared local governments focused on relief rather than risk reduction. He emphasized the need to seek justice for disaster victims and the environment, and endorsed structural change.

University of Indonesia professor Rissalwan Lubis said his country is “dangerously beautiful.” Indonesia is likewise vulnerable to disasters due to its climate and geography. The country, situated on three adjoined tectonic plates, has 17,583 islands, 500 volcanoes (128 active, 80 very active), 500 rivers and a population of 210 million.

Risks due to earthquakes, landslides, floods and conflict in seven major areas are aggravated by diversity in economic and political interests of more than 200 ethnic groups in the country. “You can be more alert when you come to Indonesia,” quipped Lubis.

“Disaster management belongs to government but the community has to protect itself,” he said.

Japan College of Social Work professor Yukio Yamaguchi said g overnment initiatives to ensure safety are not enough.

“We must learn together. People’s initiative is the best way,” he said.

Earthquakes in the Philippines

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismolog y (Phivolcs) Director Renato Solidum Jr. said the country has approximately 20 earthquakes a day, 90 destructive earthquakes in 400 years (one in five years), and 40 tsunamis in 400 years (one in 10 years).

After the February 6 Negros earthquake, Solidum said Phivolcs immediately sent a “Quick Response Team (QRT) composed of geologists, seismologists, and engineers to the affected area to allay the fears of affected communities, conduct damage assessment and continue scientific investigation.”

Solidum said communities must act on the basis of experience, science-based scenarios and hazard maps. Phivolcs shares with local governments a non-commercial tool for computing hazards, the Rapid Earthquake Damage Assessment System (REDAS). He said the “static maps of various hazards can be integrated” and the “database of critical facilities at risk (schools, bridges, urban areas, houses) can be updated by local government” using the REDAS. Exposure databases can be used in disaster impact and loss simulation, emergency and contingency planning, and land use and development planning.

Solidum emphasized the importance of surveillance and coordination with Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Operation Centers, choosing safer locations, stricter implementation of the building code, educating affected individuals and groups, and simulation of evacuation and emergency response.

Workshop presentations

During the first day’s simultaneous workshops, participants from the academe, government, and civil society subgroups came up with lessons and recommendations to promote disaster preparedness.

School-based DRR advocates engaged in teaching, research, and extension services saw the need for timely and coordinated trainings, research and documentation, relief operations, and other institutional activities. The group recommended establishing partnerships with the right people and organizations, starting DRR based on what people have, and tapping the communities’ indigenous knowledge as a resource.

The group on local government initiatives identified three issues and recommended the improvement of coordination or establishment of comprehensive linkages up to the barangay level, developing a public information and dissemination system, and volunteerism to augment the (Continued on page 10)

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april 2012

Bayan, others slam plans to bring more US troops into the country Philippines becoming a “lynchpin for American imperialism in Southeast Asia through the notorious Balikatan Exercises and other joint military exercises.”

According to the CONTEND statement, “the American government has interfered (with) and manipulated our politics, exploited our people and patrimony, supported authoritarian rule, architected the anti-insurgency campaign through low-intensity conflict: ‘Oplan Makabayan,’ ‘Oplan Bantay Laya,’ Groups belonging to the Junk VFA Movement and others gather at the Claro M. Recto Hall to discuss the return of and ‘Oplan Bayanihan’; tolerated countless U.S. Armed Forces troops to the country. human rights violations, and dragged us The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan that Philippine and American interests are into their global wars of aggression.”

(Bayan) and other groups belonging to the identical.

She then criticized Foreign Affairs Junk VFA Movement organized a forum Prof. Sarah Raymundo in her opening Secretary Albert del Rosario’s call to against the return of more US Armed remarks reiterated this point as one of the maximize the country’s military alliance Forces troops in the country, drawing guiding principles of the forum. with the United States, calling such actions representatives from various sectors of the “It has historically been proven that products of the elite’s neocolonial education. what is good for American expansionist academe and civil society.

While remembering the sacrifices of the The forum “Base Militar ng Kano: Ang policy is not necessarily good for our Philippine-American War, Raymundo and Pagbabalik” was held at the Claro M. Recto nation and the world,” said Raymundo as CONTEND-UP intend to “resurrect and Hall, UP Diliman, last February 8, the birth she read the Congress of Teachers and activate these dangerous memories to rouse date of the great nationalist statesman after Educators for Nationalism and Democracy our people to oppose the continuing war of whom the hall is named.

(CONTEND)-UP’s official statement aggression of the United States against our Recto’s speech on the “mendicant foreign titled “War is Nothing More Than the people, patrimony and sovereignty.” policy” of the Philippine government Continuation of Imperialism by Other The forum’s first speaker, development delivered at the UP Commencement Means.” studies professor and longtime scholar Recalling the Philippine-American Exercises in 1951 was an inspiration to of Philippine-US relations Prof. Roland the participants as they discussed what War of 1899, Raymundo narrated the Simbulan spoke on the geopolitics was said to be the incorrect assumption historical circumstances that led to the

Nasawing lider-estudyante ng UPM pinarangalan Fred Dabu

Nagtipon ang halos 150 estudyante at kabataan sa UP Manila (UPM) College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) Little Theater nitong Marso 21 upang bigyang pugay si Ma. Sheena S. Trinidad, isang dating magaaral ng kursong Behavioral Science at lider-estudyante ng UPM na nasawi noong Marso 8. Nagkaroon ng mga marubdob na paglalahad at kultural na pagtatanghal ukol sa buhay at paninindigan ni Trinidad.

Ayon sa mga naging kaklase, kaibigan,

at kasama sa mga organisasyong pangkampus ni Trinidad, siya ay naglingkod sa kapwa mag-aaral at kabataan bilang pangulo ng CAS student council noong 20052006, pangulo ng Alternative Students’

Alliance for Progress-Katipunan ng mga Progresibong Mag-aaral ng Bayan (ASAP-Katipunan) noong 2004-2005 at pinuno ng Student Christian Movement of the Philippines (SCMP)-UP Manila chapter noong 2003-2004.

Photo by Fred Dabu

Photo by Misael Bacani

Andre Encarnacion

Nag-alay ng pangkulturang pagtatanghal ang ilang estudyante at kabataang aktibista sa ginanap na parangal para kay Sheena Trinidad, isang dating lider-estudyante ng UP Manila na di-umano’y nasawi sa isang engkwentro noong Marso 8.

Pinatotohanan rin ng kanyang mga kaanak na si Trinidad ay “mabuting anak, masayahing kapatid, mapagkalingang tiyahin, maasahang kaibigan at butihing asawa.”

Iniulat ni Cleve Arguelles ng UPM University Student Council na tumungo sila noong Marso 16 sa Camarines Norte, Bicol upang makiramay sa pamilya at makipaglibing. “Nabuhay si Sheena ayon sa kanyang prinsipyo,” ani Arguelles.

“Naging huwaran siyang lider-estudyante.

Pinili niyang makipamuhay at maglingkod sa hanay ng mga magsasaka.”

Ayon sa mga ulat sa midya, si Trinidad ay isa sa apat na gerilya ng New People’s Army (NPA) na nakasagupa at napatay ng mga sundalo ng Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) sa Bongabon, Nueva Ecija nitong nakalipas na Pandaigdigang Araw ng mga Kababaihan.

Nananawagan ang mga kaanak ni Trinidad, kasama ng mga organisasyong kinabilangan niya noon, para sa isang kagyat na multi-sektoral na imbestigasyon sa kasong ito.

Ayon sa pahayag ng pamilyang Trinidad, “puno ng tama ng bala (ang katawan ni Sheena) na batay sa inisyal na autopsy ay naging sanhi ng kanyang pagkamatay.

Durog ang kanyang paa at bakas ang larawan ng pagpapahirap.” Nananawagan din si Dianne Kristel Asuelo, lider ng SCMP, sa Komisyon ng Karapatang Pantao ng Pilipinas upang imbestigahan nito ang nasabing insidente.

underlying the return of US troops to the country, and gave a comprehensive picture of the complex relationship between the Philippines and the US. He cited the January 2012 release of the “Priorities for 21 st Century Defense” by the US Department of Defense, which adjusts the foreign policy of the Untied States to cope with the budget crisis and current realities in America, while retaining fullscale dominance.

Simbulan explained that while the US maintained some 752 military facilities around the world, there was a slow growth to military spending under the Obama administration compared to his predecessor in the White House. Simbulan noted the Obama administration’s emphasis on the use of “soft power” which involves the use of aid, trade, diplomacy, alliances and new media to maintain dominance as opposed to conventional warfare and outright aggression. The Philippines, according to Simbulan, has become an increasingly strategic location for the US due to China’s rise as a global economic superpower and its increasing influence in Asia and the Pacific.

He then gave examples of US initiatives such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Gulf Cooperation Council as means to neutralize the threatening influence of both China and Iran. Saying that the US would prefer that the Chinese economy be integrated with the US global economy, Simbulan said the Philippines is once again a key position for the US in this regional jockeying. According to Simbulan, Mindanao was used as a laboratory for counter-insurgency by the United States, with many of the techniques used in Iraq and Afghanistan first utilized there. The military advantage it has and the control exerted by the US over the country’s resources has “undermined our capabilities as a sovereign state,” he said.

Similarly, Bayan Secretary-General Renato Reyes Jr. criticized the US effort to regain lost ground in the country in his presentation “The Trouble with Goodbyes.” Reyes pointed out that 600 US Special Forces troopers have been based in Mindanao for the past 10 years. And the rebalancing of forces toward Asia-Pacific announced last January 3 means that more are likely to be deployed. “US economic and security interests are inextricable from these developments,” Reyes said.

Reyes mentioned a Febr uar y 4 Bloomberg report that 4,000 troops in Okinawa were to be rotated to the Philippines and Australia, utilizing Subic Bay and “perhaps a smaller base.” Reyes claimed that the US “wants to bring its ships back to Subic and have the capability to deploy from (there).”

Reyes also dispelled “myths” surrounding the arrival of US troops and the increase in joint exercises, such as the temporary nature of US presence, the modernization of the AFP that it supposedly brings, the noncombat role of US forces and the belief that an increased US presence will serve as a deterrent against Chinese incursion.

In response to the question “The Yanks are back?” Reyes answered “but they never left… and they will never say goodbye.”

Reyes advised concerned citizens to “expose and oppose plans to bring more US troops, ask government to disclose details of negotiations before the March ministries meeting in Washington, and ask Congress to probe the terms of reference of the deal to bring more US troops.”

U.P. Newsletter 9

april 2012

ISSI conference pushes for technology innovation Photo by Jonathan Madrid

UP ISSI Director Nestor Rañeses, UP Diliman Chancellor Caesar Saloma and Senator Angara welcome participants to the LEAP 2012 conference at the UP ISSI.

The importance of technological innovation to Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) was the theme that drew business owners, industry leaders, government representatives, faculty and students to the UP Institute for Small Scale Industries’ (ISSI’s) National Conference

Workshop on Technology Innovation, Quality and Productivity for SMEs. It was held last February 1 and 2 at the E. Virata Hall and NCPAG Assembly Hall in UP Diliman.

Also known as the “LEAP 2012” (Leading through Technology Enabling

Innovations Advancing Quality Standards Promoting Productivity Growth), the conference featured experts who used its parallel and breakout sessions to speak on the role of MSMEs in propelling inclusive economic growth by utilizing technological innovation, as well as identifying the significance of increased productivity and efficiency. It was organized in partnership with the Small Enterprises Research and Development Foundation (SERDEF) and the DOST Technology Application and Promotion Institute (DOST-TAPI).

According to the Department of Trade and Industry, MSMEs accounted for about 99.6 percent of registered businesses over the last five years, which employs 63 percent of the labor force and contributes about 35.7 percent of sales and value added.

Because of their importance, LEAP 2012 was organized to provide creative solutions and effect positive change to propel MSME growth to new heights.

In his welcome remarks, UP ISSI

CHE promotes ethics in university work The UP College of Home Economics (CHE), in cooperation with the Office of Research and Publications and Office of Community and Extension Services of UP Diliman (UPD), organized seminars on ethics in research, creative, and extension last February 13 at the CHE Tea Room in celebration of UPD’s Research, Publication and Extension Week.

Dr. Cardito Callangan, Civil Service Commission Field Office Director, one of the resource persons, delivered a talk on “Public Service Ethics and Accountability,” in which he argued that a civil servant’s duty to be an exemplary citizen extends beyond official work hours.

Citing Republic Act 6713 or “The Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees” enacted in 1989, Callangan stressed that the call for them to be “accountable to the people,” and to “discharge their duties with utmost responsibility, integrity, competence and loyalty, act with patriotism and justice, lead modest lives, and uphold public interest over personal interest” is not bound by office hours. The operative phrase in the “Declaration of Policy,” he said, is “at all

Photo by Abraham Arboleda

Jo. Florendo B. Lontoc

Dr. Callangan of the CSC brief seminar participants of the scope of civil service obligations.

times.”

Callangan highlighted “dishonesty” as one of the major grounds for administrative disciplinary action. On voluntary work, he recommended that state workers should document or record as much of it as possible, in the spirit of honesty.

Former College of Social Work and Community Development Dean Angelito Manalili cited the story of Divine Incarnate

in discussing his ideals of ethical extension work. He spoke of extension workers who immerse themselves in communities they serve to better understand them, who involve the community in finding solutions to problems, and who give messages of hope. Public servants do their work in communities not through a client-patron relationship but through work as equals, said Manalili.

ERDT launches new program to boost country’s IC design capability (Continued from page 7)

University working on the microcontroller during the first year. For the new Eye-C Program, which takes off from the previous microelectronics program, the goal is a fully-capable microcontroller with a camera interface from students of the University of San Carlos (USC), which would give the microcontroller “eyes”; a DAC interface design from the Mindanao State UniversityIligan Institute of Technology (MSU-IIT); and a power management block designed

by Mapua Institute of Technology (MIT).

“Our efforts did not just make the chip a reality. We also got more people involved in microelectronics,” said Roque.

A network of universities around the country undertaking microelectronics education, or the MicroEd Network, is currently being expanded in northern Luzon and in the USC in Cebu and the MSU-IIT in Mindanao, with classes in analog IC design, digital IC design and advanced digital design being conducted.

“We are always looking to expand our network [of collaborations],” said Roque.

“We are also hoping to work not just with

the rest of academe but also with the other government agencies such as DOST, and other players in the semiconductor industry.”

Roque added that the success of the two programs shows that “we Filipinos are capable of desgining complex circuits.”

And that with the support of government, industry and the rest of the academe, “we can make ourselves develop globally.”

Keynote speaker Information Capital Technology Ventures Inc. chairman Thomas Aquino stressed the importance of establishing a niche in government that would support efforts toward developing the country’s IC, electronics and semiconductor industry. He also commended the ERDT and MicroEd Network for launching the new program and for establishing a “fully functional network of unique partners” consisting of public and private academic institutions.

“I look at this consortium as a pillar of confidence in industry, local or foreign,” he said. Industry is always “in search of bright, young and hopefully plentiful young

men and women”, but it “is costly for [the industry] to be the one to look for them.

But if you have schools doing their roles of teaching the young, then it would be a lot easier for industry or Philippine business to access them.”

Besides noting the creativity behind the choice of name for the new IC design program, DOST-Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research and Development (PCIERD) Deputy Executive Director Raul Sabularse, who spoke in behalf of DOST Secretary Mario Montejo, commended the Eye-C Program as “a very good example of the convergence of knowledge, talent and resources to come up with a cohesive output that would have great impact on the electronics industry and our country’s IC design capability.”

The program is in line with the DOST’s priorities for enhancing national capacity for emerging technology. “The DOST invested more than P33 million in this program, and I would also like to see the achievements of the other objectives of the (Continued on page 11)

Andre Encarnacion

Director Nestor Rañeses highlighted the specific aims of the conference to “converge and sharpen the strategic technology, quality and productivity improvement options to hasten the competitiveness of the Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector over the next six years”; to “accelerate MSME growth by engaging the key stakeholders in technology innovation”; to “provide doable solutions to overcome critical barriers to quality and productivity improvement”; and to “map out inventive actions and implementation programs that will systematically propel the MSMEs as the engine of growth”.

In his opening remarks, UPD Chancellor Caesar Saloma concentrated on the importance of technology to MSMEs in order to boost their competitiveness.

According to Saloma, the benefits are far-ranging. “By investing in technological innovation, MSME’s may not only increase their chances for growth, but also serve to encourage the development of technological infrastructure and access across the country.”

He pointed out that despite having nine neighbors in the region experiencing rapid economic growth of 7 percent or greater annually, the Philippines was not sharing in these positive outcomes. Echoing the opinion of experts, the Chancellor said that “as a whole, emerging economies will overtake the advanced countries in terms of percentage in the global Gross Domestic Product towards the end of this current decade” – a trend Filipinos must take into account in their pursuit of prosperity.

In his keynote speech, Sen. Edgardo Angara focused on the need to develop a culture of innovation in order to boost the country’s global competitiveness.

Citing the Global Competitiveness Index of the World Economic Forum and the Global Innovation Index released by INSEAD, where the Philippines placed 75th and 84th, respectively, Angara singled out technological capacity as one of the most important ingredients for a country’s development – one that is reliant on its people’s competence in science, engineering and mathematics.

“The new wealth of the world is created through technology,” the senator said.

Citing an HSBC study which projected that the Philippines will become the world’s number 16 economy by 2050, Angara said “we have the capability and the capacity to grow along with the rest of the world”.

“What is lacking is a nexus or link between government, industry and universities,” he added. “There is absolutely no cooperation or networking between the three… MSMEs need technology to make their businesses run more efficiently.

And that is what I think the government is lacking - in providing technology to the small businesses so that they can develop their ingenuity.”

After the lunch break, participants were led from the UP NCPAG Assembly Hall to the 3rd floor of the ISSI, where they were divided into three groups to address the vital issues of quality, productivity and technology innovation in the parallel sessions.

The parallel sessions were resumed on the second day, with seven how-to sessions taking place in the afternoon after lunch on various topics including Technopreneurship, Food Safety, and Filipinnovation. These ended with the soft launch and call for papers of the Philippine Journal on Innovation and Entrepreneurship led

by Director Rañeses of the ISSI.

10 U.P. Newsletter

april 2012

Southeast Asia as the place of power To understand Southeast Asia, there is a need to reexamine the concept of power in Southeast Asian culture. This was the gist of the public lecture “The Place of Power: Understanding Southeast Asia” organized by the UP Center for International Studies (CIS) last January 30 at UP Diliman’s Rizal Hall.

Historian Damon L. Woods of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), explained what the Dutch scholar J. C. Van Leur wrote in 1934: “the sheen of the world religions and foreign cultural forms is a thin and flaking glaze; underneath

it the whole of the old indigenous forms has continued to exist.”

Woods said that while the surface values of Southeast Asians may come from external cultural influences, the core values pertaining to the animist idea of power still prevail in the people’s day to day affairs. He cites as examples the Filipino people’s understanding of various manifestations of power in the context of folk revolts led by amulet-wielding messianic figures during the Spanish colonial era, the accumulation and dissipation of political power of various national leaders, the celebration of Holy Week as an occasion

Photo from facultycommons.macewan.ca

FICS holds seminar on technology-enhanced pedagogy

Dr. Bonk

In celebration of the UP Open University’s (UPOU) 17th anniversary, the Faculty of Information and Communication Studies (FICS) organized “Seminar on Technolog y-Enhanced Teaching and Learning” last February 28 at the AudioVisual Room of the UPOU Headquarters in Los Baños, Laguna.

Dr. Curtis J. Bonk, professor of Instructional Systems at Indiana University, served as the speaker. Bonk lectured on topics titled “Where are You R2D2?: Addressing Diverse Online Learner Needs

CSWCD hosts conference on disaster readiness (Continued from page 7)

manpower needed for DRR. The group on gender responsive initiatives said, “Women are very vulnerable in disasters and in evacuation centers. They have specific needs.” To address patriarchy, which enhances the vulnerability of women, the group said that women’s participation in DRR should become a policy or law. The women’s movement should be tapped for DRR. Nongovernment organization (NGO) workers concerned with children and the elderly saw the need to improve capacity in case management in evacuation centers, develop disaster prevention and post-disaster mechanisms, and mainstream assistance to the elderly and people with disability.

The group on migrant community initiatives emphasized the Japanese culture of discipline as model. DRR in Japan prioritized children, the elderly, and mothers.

Equal treatment between locals and migrants was noted. The community was organized.

People were ready to assume leadership and organize themselves in evacuation areas. Community members knew each other and shared their limited resources until they received relief goods. Individual initiatives in the disaster area and evacuation centers were given value. Everybody was relatively prepared and carried with them an emergency kit with a flashlight, whistle, first aid materials, and batteries.

The conference participants were encouraged to for m a network of institutions, organizations and individuals involved in DRR, collaboration being vital in the promotion and sustainability of disaster preparedness.

with the Read, Reflect, Display, and Do Model,” “Hyper-Engaging Instructional Strategies for Any Class Size: LowRisk, Low-Cost, Low Time,” and “Going Mobile Around the Global.”

In her welcome remarks, UPOU Chancellor Grace Alfonso emphasized that “this conscious effort [of having an academic activity as part of the anniversary celebration] is also a renewal of [UPOU’s] commitment to academic excellence.”

Vice-Chancellor for Finance and Administration Melinda Lumanta said that “the breadth and depth of [Bonk’s] presentation showed us the changing scenario in the teaching and learning environment of today.” Lumanta concluded that “teaching and learning has never been as exciting as it is now with its many possibilities.”

The seminar was attended by UPOU officials, faculty, affiliates, and staff. Other attendees were faculty and students from UP Diliman, UP Los Baños, and UP Rural High School. (Emely M. Amoloza, FICS)

COMMENTARY

Fred Dabu

to “recharge”, the flagellation and crucifixion rituals of penitents for them to get close to their perceived source of power, and the existence of indigenous folk practices despite the Southeast Asian region’s conversion to “modern” Christianity or Islam.

According to Woods, Southeast Asians view power as something real: that power exists, can be accumulated, held on to, dissipated, transferred and concentrated again to another leader. But he added that the possession of power is not permanent.

UP Assistant Vice-President for Public Affairs Jose Wendell Capili reminded the

audience to be conscious of their identity not only as Filipinos but as Southeast Asians as well. Southeast Asian nations, he said, share similar colonial experiences and cultural influences from China, India and Japan.

Woods grew up in Baguio City and received his Ph.D. in Southeast Asian history from UCLA. He teaches Philippine History, Philippine Radical Tradition, Missionaries and Southeast Asia, Religion and Society in Southeast Asia, and Religion, Revolution and Nationalism in Asia. He is one of the few scholars who researched documents written

by Tagalogs in the 16th to 18th centuries.

UPV exhibit features UPOU celebrates 17 years, awards faculty women weathering (Continued from page 6) climate change Anna Razel Ramirez

In celebration of the Women’s Month, UP Visayas (UPV) through the Gender and Development Program Office (GDPO) opened a photo exhibit titled “Women: Weathering climate change” at the Graduate and Continuing Education Building Lobby in Iloilo City last March 9.

Through the works of Juhn Chris Espia, Bryan Sapinosa, Jonathan Jurilla and Ramon Ramirez, the University celebrated women’s ability to transform themselves and adapt to the changing environment.

Shown in different settings, the women in the photographs demonstrate their endurance and resiliency in accomplishing many things despite the odds; their ability to appreciate what can be had despite the circumstances; and their capacity to weather different conditions at all times.

Remedios Rikken, chair of the Philippine Commission on Women, formally opened the exhibit. The exhibit was coordinated by the UPV Women’s Month Exhibit Committee. It ran from March 9 to 31, 2012.

private sector are necessary because UPOU “cannot proceed in isolation.”

The program then honored UPOU partners such as the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Intel Philippines, the University of Batangas, the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company, and Vibal Publishing.

Apart from its partners, three faculty members were recognized. Prof. Ricardo Bagarinao was awarded the UPOUFI Professorial Chair in Open and Distance Learning for his work, “Graph Theoretic Approach in Analyzing the Navigation Paths of Online Learners.” The same award was given to Faculty of Information and Communication Studies Dean Melinda Bandalaria for her study “Learner and Faculty Support Services in Open ad Distance e-Learning: A Search for New Framework Based on New Context and Old Theories and Assumptions.” Finally, Prof. Jean Saludadez received the UPAADCMDVA Faculty Grant for “Agency as Framework for the Study of Distance Education.”

need to be briefly discussed about the use of the disciplinary, interdisciplinary, and multidisciplinary approaches in the GEP. These approaches/ strategies in course delivery is never a matter of teaching preference and/or style but a matter of educational principle.

First, the offering of the GE courses through the disciplinary approach to undergraduate students should be a collegiate categorical decision, precisely because this approach will equip them with the fundamental facts, concepts, and principles along with the skills endemic to the discipline. It is during this period when the student being yet more of a practical and literal thinker could suffer confusion, may be overwhelmed, and is intellectually insecure. The student, however, does begin to strive, survive, and finally triumph at this time, although this may not be true of everyone.

The interdisciplinary approach pertains to certain concerns common to two or three fields; it is used in two ways. One kind of use is in a case where some concerns are common to both fields/area of study. The other use is in a case where the perspective or point of view of a given discipline is applied to another. Educational psychology Psychological Economics, and Sociobiology are examples of these approaches. A student must have studied the two fields in their pure disciplinary forms. Otherwise, a student who has not taken any or both of the courses cannot perform as effectively as those who finished the courses prior to taking the interdisciplinary approach.

The multidisciplinary study is formally construed here to be a study of issues or

problems the solution of which better requires different disciplines and/ or perspectives. For instance, the old problem of poverty, or the issue of criminality is more adequately understood and addressed through the synergy of such relevant disciplines as political science, economics, psychology, anthropology, history, and sociology.

Where do adoption, adaptation, creation/ generation, and change come in, in the context of the GEP issue of retention or rejection? Adoption is the acceptance and use/employment, totally or partially, of an object, method, system, principle, or condition by direct choice as the solution to a problem, or, in the absence of a vital matter at the moment. Adaptation, on the other hand, is the act of making fit or usable by means of modification or improvement, while creation as well as generation is the act of forming or generating something new and original. Change is any form of difference that occurs or is made on something, whether qualitative or quantitative.

With respect to the GEP, what is fundamental for lifetime learning and purpose is imperative for adoption; what is relevant and instrumental only is contingent and advisable for adaptation. What has become necessary in the course of time but is not available needs to be created and/or constructed. The UP student as a GEP product and beneficiary of fundamental and general knowledge, skills, and values learned on a liberal and free inquiry basis can decide in later years whether to adopt, adapt, or create, both with respect to the program and the new times and with the eventualities waiting to be addressed.

(Continued from page 3)

paper. To the three criteria, however, the present writer would add the synthesis/ synergy requirement.

Unity of purpose is meant by Prof.

Poblador to be evidenced by results. On the other hand, I construed his criteria of order as order in diversity of reality as known by way of experience and theory, and order in substantiality and complexity.

The interrelationship among the six areas is meant to enable the student to perceive meaning and relevance of those areas to his or her life and intentions, to community interest, and to society as a whole. The last, synthesis or synergy, applies to the coordination, complementation, integration, or convergence of, or among the area/ discipline-based knowledge, skills, and values.

Having affirmed the fitness of the four criteria, this writer believes that rather than training UP students for the approaches of unqualified adaptation, adoption, and change, what should be done is to educate them on the fundamental substance of human knowledge by means of the six areas; on creativity/ constructivity; and on the seeds of leadership.

Let us not cater to the uninformed liberty of students to choose between courses of personal interest and courses which are generally fundamental and universal in character. Should this happen, we would be short-changing the development and nurturance of the youth into future leaders and professionals with empowered goodwill, substantial decision-making, balanced judgment, broad perspectives, critical tolerance, and courageous action.

Finally, some points of importance

april 2012

U.P. Newsletter 11

Javier Menendrez, Education Adviser of the Spanish Embassy, met with the officials of UP Visayas (UPV) last March 15 at UP Visayas, Iloilo City campus toward establishing linkages, including inter-university collaboration in any field of study, between UPV and universities in Spain.

Plans on possible educational cooperation focused on the promotion of Spanish language and culture were also discussed. Menendrez also cited some programs already being offered free of charge by the Instituto de Cervantes on language teaching .

Also present during the meeting was

Photo by Jonathan Madrid

Spanish Embassy education adviser meets with UPV officials May Perez Pioquinto, founder and national president of ASPROFIL Spain-Philippines and honorary investment and trade representative of Spain to the Philippines, and her son Albarito Perez Pioquinto.

The UPV officials who met with Menendrez were Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs Emilia Yap, ViceChancellor for Administration Nestor Yunque, College of Arts and Sciences Dean Ma. Luisa Mabunay, College of Management Dean Joy Lizada, Prof. Ruben Gamala of the College of Management, and Prof. Leticia Ami of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences. (Anna Razel L. Ramirez)

ERDT launches new program to boost country’s (Continued from page 9) IC design capability program,” which would have a more lasting impact to the industry and academe—to increase the number of IC design engineers in the country.

During the launch, several representatives from the electronics industry also shared their ideas on the need for more IC design engineers in the country and the Filipinos’ potential in the IC design industry. Those present were Manny Malaki of Analog Devices Inc.; Rey Bruce, chairman and CEO of BiTMICRO Networks; Robert

Minguez II, director of Xinyx Design; Darence Tan, regional sales manager of Synopsys Pte. Ltd.; and John Imperial, director of design engineering of Lattice Semiconductor Corp.

The conference was followed by an open forum with representatives from six of the ERDT consortium-member universities, with former UP College of Engineering dean and ERDT program leader Dr. Rowena Cristina Guevara as moderator.

UPOU holds 1st Int’l Conference on ODeL (Continued from page 4)

institutions. First was “WE ALL LEARN: Web searching in the world of e-books, Elearning and blended learning, Availability of open source and free software, Leveraged resources and OpenCourseWare, Learning object repositories and portals, Learner participation in open information communities, Electronic collaboration and interaction, Alternate reality learning, Realtime mobility and portability, and Networks of personalized learning.” The second, called TEC-VARIETY, is a framework where each letter stands for a motivational principle for assessment: “Tone/climate, Encouragement and feedback, Curiousity, Variety, Autonomy, Relevance, Interactivity, Engagement, Tension, Yields products.”

R2-D2 is what Bonk named the third framework. It stands for read, reflect, display and do. Read is for auditory and verbal learners. Reflect is for reflective learners. Display is for visual learners. Do is for tactile, kinesthetic and exploratory learners.

But Bonk said he was most excited about the last framework, which he called “From Tinkering to Tottering to Totally Extreme Learning.” It traces the movement of the ODeL environment from the usual practices to bold new ways of education.

Tinkering deals with blended learning, using the usual supplemental tools such as multimedia and the Internet. Tottering was something he described as “flipping the classroom”—almost transforming the way classes are conducted and “on the edge of the jump-off point.” An example he gave was the practice of Prof. Ron Owston of York University, Canada, who gives his students the chance to have a say on the flow of the course by having a wiki-syllabi.

Totally extreme learning “stretches the edges of humanity” and Bonk said this involves a variety of ways of learning, which he showed through examples. A soldier in a war zone continues to get his education and earn his Master of Business Administration degree. A retired professor offers his expertise and provides mentorship online. An Archaeology graduate student

discovers areas for future study with the use of Google Earth. South African teenagers get virtual mentoring from all over the world. Information about scientific processes and discoveries are disseminated immediately through blog updates with photos and videos from field and laboratory researchers. Experts conduct lectures to a global audience via the Web. Finally, Dhanarajan left the conference participants with some thoughts to ponder upon in his talk where he asked, “What does it really mean to be open? Are we really open?” In Asia, inequities continue to plague higher education. Enrollment at the tertiary level remains low compared to the secondary and elementary levels, he pointed out. The poor, those in rural areas, nomadic people, even women in some countries still do not have access to education.

“Demography is the biggest pressure point,” Dhanarajan revealed. The population growth in Asia has shown no signs of slowing down. This led him to conclude that different approaches to providing education must be explored because inequities have not only persisted, they have increased.

There must be a “new openness,” where learning is ubiquitous, experience and new ways of assessment are recognized; where there is open inquiry, open collaboration, open leadership and education for openness. Content must be developed collaboratively, freely available and can be reused, repurposed and redistributed.

In closing, he presented the choices that ODeL institutions have in the face of increasing inequities: remain the same in terms of products, clients and methods; change methods but retain the same clients and products; change products but methods and clients remain the same; change clients, may be revolutionary though products and methods are retained; change everything, which is radical and ideal; or simply perish.

The 1st ICODeL was organized in partnership with the UPOU Foundation, Inc. and the Philippine Society for Distance Learning, Inc.

TGIF! Faculty members and research staff enjoy a fun activity as part of the TGIF series sponsored by the Office of the Vice-President for Academic Affairs. Held on Friday evenings, the activity is meant to foster camaraderie and exchange among the university’s academic constituents in an informal setting.

DOST secretary checks milkfish and shrimp research programs at UPV Soledad S. Garibay

UP President Alfredo Pascual, UP Visayas (UPV) Chancellor Rommel Espinosa and UPV officials, faculty members and researchers welcomed Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Secretary Mario Montejo during his visit to UPV in Miagao, Iloilo last February 29. His visit was part of the on-site evaluation of two on-going multimillion-peso research programs of DOST for shrimp and milkfish.

The Secretary was accompanied by DOST Undersecretary Carol Yorobe; Head Executive Assistant Marilyn Yap; Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development (PCAARRD) Executive Director Patricio Faylon; Deputy Executive Director for Aquatic and Natural Resources of PCAARRD Cesario Pagdilao; DOST Regional Director Rowen Gelonga; and other DOST staff members.

The UPV Institute of Aquaculture (IA) of the College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences (CFOS) is currently implementing research programs on milkfish and shrimps. IA Director

Crispino Saclauso is the prog ram leader of the “National Milkfish R & D Program” while IA Brackish Water Aquaculture Center Station Head Valeriano Corre Jr. is the program leader of the “Integrated and Sustainable Development Program for the Shrimp Industry.” Saclauso and Corre are both faculty members of IA. They and other researchers from UPV and the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center Aquaculture Department (SEAFDEC AQD) reported on the status and accomplishments of the on-going research during the meeting at the Conference Room, Umali Hall, CFOS, Miagao, Iloilo.

Montejo and company visited the research facilities at the IA Multi-Species Hatchery Building as well as the adjacent wet and dry facilities being used in the implementation of both research prog rams. They also inspected the experiments on the biofloc system and immunostimulant in the tanks and ponds at the UPV-CFOS-IA Brackish Water Aquaculture Center in Leganes, Iloilo.

ERRATUM I n t h e a r t i c l e “ P h a r m a S e a s, PhilHABS project featured in 2nd OVPAA Research Symposium” (March 2012, p. 2), PhilHABs Program Leader Rhodora Azanza requested a correction on the second sentence of the fourth paragraph “HABs result in ‘toxin accumulation’ that, in turn, lead to fish kills because of reduced oxygen in the ecosystem.”

Azanza wrote that it should be

“HABs can result in toxin accumulation or fish kills, depending on the causative organism. Fish kills are caused by absence or low oxygen; rarely by fishspecific toxins which are different from human-specific toxins. Toxins (e.g.

Paralytic Shellfish Toxins) can be carried/ accumulated by vectors such as shellfish and passed to humans if this HAB is not properly managed.”

We apologize for the error.

12 U.P. Newsletter

april 2012

Photo by Abraham Arboleda

UP Baguio rallies to save Luneta Hill trees

Reyes, Director of MNL 143

YCC Film Desk holds forum on Cinemalaya Arbeen Acuña

de Leon and Mario O’hara, Guieb said that most films today claiming to be “indie” do not have a clear stance on political issues and do not have an alternative discourse.

He added that films submitting to those who wield political power and denying the marginalized of social justice are meaningless. He also said that we should not think of, or focus on the “indie” movement in Cinemalaya alone, as there are many other indie movements, and some of them would not be allowed to participate in the said film festival.

The success of Cinemalaya, according to Millado, is due to its being a publicprivate partnership. He also said that the committee asked him to communicate with Reyes if the film maker was still “willing to reconsider to be part of the process again and submit the requirements.” Reyes refused and said that he may try again next year, but in the mean time, would rather make his film independently and try raising P143,000 through the website Artist Connect, and with the help of friends.

“If you do not believe the track of Cinemalaya, and you do not believe their definition of ‘indie,’ then get out and don’t join,” said Guieb. He added that it is alarming when people outside the “indie” community set the standards for “indie” films and that one should know who is and who is not a film maker. He also asked if we could call Cinemalaya the cinema of the state and Cinema One the cinema of the elite capital. “Now, where is the independence in the cinemas of the state and of the elite capital?”

With the disasters that devastated the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan in Northern Mindanao last December, along with the memory of tropical storms “Ondoy” and “Pepeng” in 2009, many Baguio residents fear that a similar scenario might just happen if the continued destruction of forests will not be stopped.

They argue that SM’s proposal to build a “green building” that would conform to international environment-friendly standards is more than offset by the qualitative benefits provided by the Luneta Hill “mini-forest” including, among others, the absorption of run-off rainwater, purifying of the already polluted mountain air, and the aesthetic value of green open spaces in the city’s oncefamed natural mountain landscape.

The crowd also called for a boycott of SM. (Abridged report by Reuben Muni, Ti Similla)

UPB survey shows Baguio residents against SM plan

Photo courtesy of UPB Office of Public Affairs

After condemning the disqualification of Emerson Reyes’s film MNL 143 from the 8th Cinemalaya Independent Film Festival, the Young Critics Circle (YCC) Film Desk, in cooperation of UP Department of Art Studies, held a forum last March 21 at the Faculty Center Conference Hall in UP Diliman to further discuss the issue.

UP Cineastes’ Studio also condemned the disqualification during the forum and called “for Cinemalaya to reassess its goals, mission and vision” as its organizers should “be lobbying and fighting for the rights of creative individuals.”

According to the statement released

by YCC, “the organizing committee, composed of competition chair Laurice Guillen-Feleo, festival director Nestor Jardin and monitoring head Robbie Tan made the move following a dispute with Reyes” over casting preferences.

“This is a classic case of the young film maker versus the experienced people in the industry,” said film critic Francis Joseph “Oggs” Cruz, who resigned from the selection committee after Reyes’s disqualification.

Chris Millado, artistic director of the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), said that Cinemalaya’s disqualification of Reyes was “too radical,” and that it should reform its process by rotating membership in the monitoring committee. Cruz said that he was glad that Millado came to the forum to represent the CCP, because of the false notion that Cinemalaya is a private venture. The film festival is actually a joint project of Tony Boy Cojuangco’s Cinemalaya Foundation Inc. and the CCP. Cruz said that among the rights given to Cojuangco in the Memorandum of Agreement are the television rights for two years. The P500,000 given to selected film makers then is not really a donation since “he (Cojuangco) is getting something out of it.”

F i l m m a ke r Ya m L a r a n a s s a i d Cinemalaya will need all the help they can give to help the festival “evolve.” He said that the festival is the “legit indie cinema.”

Prof. Eulalio “Eli” Guieb of the UP College of Mass Communication Film Institute said that “we have to problematize indie cinema.” He added that as critics, their objective is not consensus but to refine the debate. According to him, while some people say the indie movement would save the film industry, critics in the academe such as himself often end up frustrated.

In contrast to the struggle of film makers Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Mike

An estimated 5,000 people from various political and religious persuasions— environmentalists, college students, teachers, political activists, artists, writers, priests, nuns, civil-society groups, members of the LGBT community (lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders), and even kindergarten pupils—took to the streets of Baguio recently to oppose the proposed cutting and re-balling of some 182 alnus and pine trees by SM City-Baguio.

More than a thousand UP Baguio constituents linked up with protesters from the Baguio-Benguet community in objecting to the development of the SM property on Luneta Hill. UP Baguio Chancellor Priscilla Supnet Macansantos, along with College of Arts and Communication Dean Purificacion Delima, College of Science Dean Wilfredo Alangui and College of Social Sciences Dean Raymundo Rovillos led the UP Baguio contingent, composed of administrators, faculty members, students, non-teaching personnel, and alumni.

“No to corporate greed! Save the Luneta Hill trees!” read the huge tarpaulin banner that marked the frontline of the UP Baguio contingent. Through street performances, chants, and songs, and through colorful and witty slogans, students, residents and visitors of Baguio showed their strong opposition to the SM project to develop a tree-covered area into a carpark Many people who joined the rally also suspected collusion between the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) which issued the treecutting permit, the Baguio City government which upheld the DENR permit and approved the building permit, and SM Development Corporation.

For the protesters, the SM issue is not just about protecting the environment. It is also about transparency in governance and strong leadership. Many of those who joined the protest expressed their discontent with the way the SM issue is being handled by the local government of Baguio. Many protesters also see the issue as an attempt of the government and big business to coerce people into believing that they know better than the people in terms of what is best for their future.

The UP Baguio contingent marches during a protest action against plans to uproot trees on Luneta Hill to give way for a mall expansion.

Nearly 9 out of 10 Baguio residents who participated in a recent survey by the College of Science students of UP Baguio said they were not in favor of the planned earth-balling of 182 trees in Luneta Hill.

A total of 92.14 percent of the respondents also said that the Baguio City Council should “listen to public sentiment” on the issue.

The survey of 751 respondents was conducted from March 1 to 8 this year by students enrolled in a statistics course under the supervision of Paul Samuel Ignacio of the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science.

The majority of the respondents also believed that in the long run, the planned SM expansion project will have a positive impact on the local economy (63.65 percent), tourism (60.85 percent), and employment (72.44 percent). However, they also believed that the project will negatively affect local businesses (54.06 percent), people’s health (79.89 percent), the environment (85.22 percent), and sanitation (77.36 percent).

The survey also revealed that 78.56 percent of the respondents would be “sympathetic” to “mass actions” with majority (66.31 percent) believing that these would put a stop to the proposed SM Baguio project.

Three schools were represented in the survey (Baguio City National High School, University of the Cordilleras and UP Baguio), nine barangays (Engineer’s Hill, Governor Pack, Jungle Town, Military Cut Off, Aurora Hill, Bakakeng, Hillside, Campo Sioco and San Vicente), establishments in Session Road, Abanao and Legarda, and market vendors. The survey sites were chosen on the basis of their proximity to SM. The non-commissioned survey had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 3%.

A complete report is being prepared and can be accessed soon at the College of Science website (www.upb.edu. ph/~cs). (UPB Press Release)

U.P. NEWSLETTER PROF. DANILO ARAÑA ARAO Editor-in-Chief JO. FLORENDO B. LONTOC Managing Editor PROF. LUIS TEODORO Editorial Consultant ARBEEN ACUÑA, FRED DABU, ANDRE ENCARNACION, CELESTE ANN CASTILLO LLANETA, JO. FLORENDO B. LONTOC, KIM QUILINGUING, ARLYN VCD P. ROMUALDO Writers BONG ARBOLEDA, MISAEL BACANI, JONATHAN MADRID Photographers ARBEEN ACUÑA Layout OBET EUGENIO Editorial Assistant TOM MAGLAYA Circulation The U.P. NEWSLETTER is a monthly publication of the UP System Information Office, Office of the Vice-President for Public Affairs. We welcome contributions from the faculty, non-academic staff, REPS and students. Please send your contributions to: THE EDITOR U.P. Newsletter Mezzanine Floor, Quezon Hall, UP Diliman, Quezon City 926-1572, 436-7537 e-mail: upnewsletter@up.edu.ph upsio@up.edu.ph