#PrideofUPD
Every UP Diliman examinee who took the July 2021 Metallurgical Engineering Licensure Exam passed, giving the University a 100 percent passing rate, with three examinees landing on the top five.
John Karlo E. Mercado nabbed the top spot with an 87.05 percent rating, followed in 2nd place by Juan Raphael S. Contreras with an 86.65 percent rating. Mae Pursia V. Orbon landed in 5th place with an 83.50 percent rating.
Source: UP Diliman FB page
MANILA, PHILIPPINES, 21 June 2021 – The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) recently announced the appointment of Dr. Stephen Acabado, Associate Professor of the Department of Anthropology, as the new Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies (CSEAS) of UCLA International Institute.
Dr. Acabado is an eminent archaeological anthropologist interested in human environment interaction and Indigenous responses to colonialism. His research has focused on the archaeology of highland agricultural systems in Southeast Asia, specifically on the Ifugao agricultural terraces in Northern Philippines. He currently has active research programs in Indigenous Taiwan, and in Bicol and Ifugao in the Philippines.
In addition to his archaeological research, Dr. Acabado is also actively engaged in the ethnographic study of the Ifugao agricultural system as a living cultural landscape. Descendant communities have been passionately involved in his research projects, resulting to an increased community interest and the emergence of an indigenous archaeology in the region.
A Bicolano, he graduated BA Anthropology from UP Diliman and subsequently earned his Masters and Doctorate degrees at the University of Hawaiʻi in Honolulu and has been a Professor and Lecturer at prestigious institutions in the Philippines (UP Diliman, Ateneo de Manila University) and in the US (University of Hawaiʻi, University of Guam, UCLA).
His career is distinguished by numerous academic and advisory board appointments, both local and international, in addition to the grants and awards that have been bestowed on him in recognition of his work and achievements in the field of archeology. His research among the Ifugao and their rice terraces, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, forced a rethinking of long-held assumptions about Indigenous peoples as passive observers in history.
Dr. Acabado is also a much-published author, having written or co-written articles in leading archaeological and anthropological journals and periodicals, as well as several books, including the most recent, a picture book for children, “Bahay Kubo,” in the Philippines. He continues to contribute articles for Rappler and Inquirer USA on a regular basis, and conducts workshops, seminars and symposia on anthropology and culture here and abroad.
Contact Person: Gina D. Lumauig
Contact Number: +639279795462
Author: Denise Wager
Diane Desierto, an expert in human rights and international law, joined Notre Dame Law School in January 2021 as professor of law and faculty director for the Law School’s LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law. More than 400 lawyers from over 100 countries have graduated from the program where they specialize in the study and research of human rights issues with faculty who are specialists in the field of international human rights law.
“Diane Desierto represents the global reach of Notre Dame Law School’s Catholic mission,” said G. Marcus Cole, the Joseph A. Matson Dean and Professor of Law at Notre Dame Law School. “She brings unparalleled international legal expertise to issues of human rights and the plight of the world’s poor. Her relationships with international courts, the United Nations, and other global institutions provide both Notre Dame and the world with real leadership with respect to human rights.”
Desierto teaches and researches in the areas of international law and human rights, international economic law, international arbitration, maritime security, comparative public law, and the regional law of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Her influence as an international expert is immense. She is a member of the Expert Group of the United Nations Working Group on the Right to Development, legal expert for ASEAN and the Asian Development Bank, president of the Friends of the Hague Academy Foundation, arbitrator at the British Virgin Islands Arbitration Centre, and expert amicus in complex international disputes. Additionally, she serves as the Philippines Focal Point for the International Criminal Court Bar Association. She is active as international counsel, successfully litigating at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Netherlands, International Criminal Court, the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and the Supreme Court of the Philippines. She is a member of editorial boards of the European Journal of International Law, Journal of World Investment and Trade, International Law Studies, Wolters Kluwer International Law monograph series, and several Asian law journals.
“Notre Dame Law School’s mission of educating a different kind of lawyer to defend human dignity and the common good as part of the University’s broader Catholic mission, is exactly the principled voice that the international system needs at this time of resurgent authoritarianism and the ubiquitous normalization of human rights violations around the world,” Desierto said. “I am grateful to join the law faculty in their urgent mission, and to support future generations of the world’s human rights defenders through Notre Dame’s globally renowned LL.M. program in human rights.”
Desierto holds a joint appointment of professor of global affairs in the Keough School for Global Affairs, and is also professor of international law and human rights at the Philippine Supreme Court’s Philippine Judicial Academy.
She has already made an impact at Notre Dame during her brief time at the University.
She is the co-leader of the Notre Dame Reparations Design and Compliance Lab, which develops and tests methodologies to assess state compliance with reparative orders of international adjudication bodies, such as the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the World Bank Inspection Panel. In addition, she is part of a new Klau Center for Civil and Human Rights initiative with UN Water and Latin America partners ICDGE and REPAM, providing collaborative training for government regulators and private sector water providers on how to develop sustainable water resource policies in the Amazon. The training was part of Desierto’s spring 2021 course in economic, social, and cultural rights that exposed Notre Dame Law students to law and regulatory policy planning with water sector practitioners in Latin America.
Before coming to Notre Dame, Desierto taught at the University of the Philippines, Peking University School of Transnational Law in China, and the University of Hawaii Richardson School of Law.
She holds J.S.D. and LL.M. degrees from Yale Law School. She earned her J.D. cum laude and undergraduate economics degree summa cum laude from the University of the Philippines.
Read more about Desierto and her work in the University of Notre Dame’s 2020 Women Lead feature.
Source: https://bit.ly/3q3AOKC
Dr. Melinda dela Peña Bandalaria, Chancellor of the University of the Philippines Open University (UPOU), has been chosen by the Asian Association of Open Universities (AAOU) as the recipient of the AAOU Meritorious Service Award 2021.
The AAOU Meritorious Service Award is given to recognize outstanding services and contributions to open and distance education. The AAOU Executive Committee selected the recipient of this award based on dedication, effort and contributions upon recommendations by the AAOU Adjudication Committee. The Award comprises a citation and a plaque as symbols of acknowledgement presented by the AAOU President to the recipient during the annual conference.
The AAOU Meritorious Service Award was presented by AAOU President, Prof. Ojat Darojat, Rector of Universitas Terbuka, to Chancellor Bandalaria during the 34th AAOU Annual Conference held on 1-3 June 2021. The AAOU conference this year is hosted by the Sri Lanka Open University and is the first hybrid conference held by the organization.
Dr. Bandalaria is a staunch advocate of open and distance elearning. Even before her Chancellorship, she has been engaged and has led various projects and programs to advance open and distance elearning in the Philippines and in Asia. She is well associated with the offering of free massive open online courses or MOOCs. Chancellor Bandalaria is also known for her leadership in open education initiatives, being the Chair of the Asian MOOCs Steering Committee, and the Co-Chair of the Open Educational Resources (OER) Dynamic Coalition Advisory Board on Quality, Inclusive Multilingualism. Dr. Bandalaria is also the current International Council for Distance Education (ICDE) Ambassador for OER and has also been appointed as a member of the ICDE OER Advisory Committee (OERAC). She served as President of the AAOU from 2017-2019.
Indeed, receiving the AAOU Meritorious Award is well-deserved. Padayon, Chancellor Mel!
Source: https://bit.ly/3wbZdje
by KIM Quilinguing, UP MPRO
University of the Philippines Associate Professor Franz Asunta de Leon, PhD, has been appointed as the new Director of the Department of Science and Technology – Advanced Science and Technology Institute (DOST-ASTI). He was sworn into office on 15 April 2021 at the DOST-ASTI Building in Quezon City, in the presence of Science and Technology Secretary Fortunato de la Peña, DOST Undersecretary for Research and Development Rowena Cristina Guevara, and other officials of the institute.
De Leon is the 9th Director of the DOST-ASTI, since its creation in 1987. Prior to his appointment, he served as the Acting Director of the institute, after its previous head, fellow UP faculty member, Prof. Joel Joseph Marciano, PhD, was appointed as Director-General of the Philippine Space Agency.
Director de Leon finished his Bachelor of Science in Electronics and Communications Engineering degree at the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2003, and his Master of Science in Electrical Engineering degree, also in UP Diliman, in 2005. He earned his PhD in Electronic and Electrical Engineering degree at the University of Southampton, in the United Kingdom, in 2014.
Speaking on his appointment at the time of the pandemic, de Leon said “there is a need for solutions and applications that will uplift our spirits and help us adjust to the new normal. As the new ASTI Director, I want to make the Filipinos enjoy the benefits of innovative solutions in the field of ICT, microelectronics and space technology.”
Secretary de le Peña congratulated de Leon and issued a marching order to the new Director saying “the field that has been assigned to ASTI is something that will really transform the Philippines, and so we expect a lot of innovations and transformations that will come out of ASTI.”
A member of the UPDEEEI Digital Signal Processing Laboratory, de Leon’s research interests include digital signals processing for audio and communications engineering, particularly in indigenous music. His group works closely with the UP Center for Ethnomusicology. He headed
the development of the DOST-UPD-EEEI Philippine Indigenous Instruments Sounds Database, also known as the Kalipunan ng Katutubong Tunog or KATUNOG. He is also part of a group studying the application of machine learning techniques in multimedia.
Created by virtue of Executive Order No. 128 in 1987, the Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) is an agency attached to the Department of Science and Technology (DOST). It is mandated to undertake scientific research and development, as well as technology transfer, in the advanced fields of information and communication technology, computing and electronics.
-With reports from DOST-ASTI, UPD-EEEI
A video of the oath-taking of UP Associate Professor Franz A. de Leon as the new DOST-ASTI Director. Video courtesy of DOST-ASTI on Youtube.
In the search for the 2020 Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award, the Encouragement Award was given to Prof. Mary Donnabelle Balela, Ph.D., of the UPD Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, for her research on the “Development of Efficient and Customizable Kapok Fiber Adsorbents for Water Treatment Applications”.
The award program was launched in 2020 to promote science, technology and innovation that contributes to solving social issues and realizing a sustainable society in the ASEAN region. Eighteen (18) universities in the region were invited to submit Research and Development (R&D) results that contribute to the following targets of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs):
• Goal 2, “End Hunger”, and
• Goal 3, “Good Health and Well-being”.
According to the Hitachi Global Foundation website, this award recognizes individuals and groups that undeniably served public interests through their outstanding achievements in research and development (R&D) in the fields of science and technology, including their visions of an ideal future society and social implementation plans for R&D as a means of achieving SDGs.
The call for the 2021 Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award is ongoing. Please refer to the following link for details: http://bit.ly/Hitachi2021.
Source: https://international.upd.edu.ph/up-dmmme-faculty-receives-award-from-hitachi-global-foundation/
The board and management of Manila Bulletin Corporation are pleased to announce the appointment of executive vice president Herminio “Sonny” Coloma Jr. as publisher of the Manila Bulletin effective May 1, 2021, replacing Dr. Crispulo J. Icban, who passed away on April 5, 2021.
Mr. Loreto D. Cabañes has also been named editor-in-chief of the Manila Bulletin effective May 1, 2021, also replacing Mr. Icban.
Prior to joining the Manila Bulletin as executive vice president, Sec. Coloma served under three former presidents. He was in the cabinet of former President Benigno Aquino III as communication secretary and presidential spokesperson. He served as transportation undersecretary in former President Joseph Estrada’s administration, where he headed the Philippine delegation to the International Maritime Organization. Under former President Corazon Aquino, he was head of the presidential management staff, deputy executive secretary, and undersecretary for transportation and agrarian reform. Sec. Coloma took up Political Science at the University of the Philippines and obtained a Master in Business Management degree with distinction from the Asian Institute of Management, where he later worked as dean for executive education and program director for development management before becoming president of the University of Makati. He holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the School of Organization Development at the Southeast Asia Interdisciplinary Development Institute.
Succeeding Dr. Jun Icban, Mr. Cabañes is the 13th man to hold the post of editor-in-chief at Manila Bulletin since it was founded 121 years ago, on Feb. 2, 1900.
Mr. Cabañes majored in agribusiness at the UP College of Agriculture, where he earned a degree in agricultural economics. He has been business editor of the Manila Bulletin since February 1992. He joined the news organization in January 1972 as a business reporter, covering the banking beat and the business community, particularly the Central Bank of the Philippines, for nearly two decades. Prior to becoming business editor, he served the Manila Bulletin as assistant business editor. As editor-in-chief, he will continue his post as business editor in concurrent capacity.
Founded on Feb. 2, 1900, the Manila Bulletin has been chronicling Philippine life for 121 years, reporting, producing, distributing (now across multiple platforms), and obtaining the news. It has over the past few decades assumed the role of “exponent of Philippine progress.”
MANILA — A Filipina scientist was bestowed knighthood by the Netherlands for her work in agriculture and promoting relations there.
Dr. Mary Ann Pelagio Sayoc received the Order of Orange-Nassau and was recognized by Ambassador Saskia de Lang for her efforts.
“The Philippines and The Netherlands have developed strong ties in the agri-food sector in the areas of trade, investments, agricultural technology, and knowledge transfer,” the embassy said in a statement.
“I am very proud to announce that it has pleased His Majesty King Willem Alexander to award a Knighthood on a leading personality of the Dutch Filipino community. It is a recognition of exceptional merit to The Netherlands.”
𝗡𝗲𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗔𝘄𝗮𝗿𝗱𝘀 𝗞𝗻𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗔𝗴𝗿𝗶-𝗮𝗱𝘃𝗼𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲
MANILA, Philippines (April 26, 2021) – Ambassador Saskia de…
Posted by Embassy of the Netherlands in the Philippines on Monday, April 26, 2021
Sayoc serves as the public affairs lead for the East-West Seed Group and head of the Philippine-Dutch Fellows Network, Inc.
She is also a board member Dutch Chamber of Commerce in the Philippines Inc. since 2014, together with a number of Dutch-Filipino companies.
“Prior to her move to the seed industry in 1998, Dr. Sayoc was involved with the International Training Center on Pig Husbandry (ITCPH), an institution created by The Netherlands government through Barneveld College and the Philippine government through the Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Training Institute (DA-ATI),” the embassy said.
The Order of Orange-Nassau is awarded to individuals for longstanding meritorious service to society, it added.
Source: https://bit.ly/32UW8qW
Posted by UP Media and Public Relations Office
Three giant cloud rat species were discovered to have lived in the Philippines simultaneously as the oldest human species (Homo luzonensis) found in the country. But two of the rodents went extinct only after 2,000 years ago.
A team from the University of the Philippines (UP), the Philippine National Museum, and the Field Museum of Natural History of the USA have since 2017 studied fossil remains sifted from the earth in several caves in northern Luzon from which they discovered the three extinct species unique to the Philippines.
The discovery was recently published in the Journal of Mammalogy. Read the full article here.
“These are three previously unknown species from an unusual group of rodents, locally known as buot or bugkun, and known in English as giant cloud rats, that live only in the Philippines,” says Dr. Janine Ochoa, Assistant Professor of Anthropology of UP Diliman and lead author of the journal paper.
According to the co-author, Dr. Lawrence Heaney, Negaunee Curator of Mammals at the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago: “The two that became extinct [more recently] were giants among rodents, both weighing about a kilogram. They were big enough that it might have been worthwhile to hunt and eat them.”
“These giant rats and their relatives are members of an ancient branch on the tree of life that arrived from the Asian mainland about 14 million years ago and live only in the Philippines,” says co-author Marian Reyes, a zooarcheologist at the National Museum of the Philippines.
She describes the buot typically as living in trees and eating leaves, buds, and seeds. She also says that all of them have furry or fluffy tails and striking fur colors.
The scientific names of the three new species of fossil cloud rats were chosen using vernacular terms from Philippine languages. The largest of the fossil cloud rats is Carpomys dakal, named so because it is much larger compared to the known living species in the same genus, Carpomys melanurus and Carpomys phaeurus. Dakal means big or large in several languages in northern Luzon, including in the Itawes, Ibanag and Agta languages. The second fossil species, Crateromys ballik, is slightly smaller than the living Crateromys species on Luzon, Crateromys schadenbergi. Ballik means small in the Dupaningan Agta language. The third species, Batomys cagayanensis, is named after the place where the archaeological sites are located, the Cagayan region of northeastern Luzon.
At a crossroads with humans
According to the researchers, the newly recorded fossil species came from Callao Cave and several adjacent smaller caves in Peñablanca, Cagayan Province. Some specimens of all three of the new fossil rodents occurred in the same deep layer in the Callao Cave where the Homo luzonensis, an endemic human species, was discovered in 2019 to have lived about 67,000 years ago.
One of the new fossil rodents is known from only two specimens from that ancient layer, but the other two are represented by specimens from that early date up to about 2,000 years ago.
“Our records demonstrate that these giant rodents were able to survive the profound climatic changes from the Ice Age to current humid tropics that have impacted the earth over tens of millennia. The question is, what might have caused their final extinction?” asks Prof. Philip Piper, a co-author based at the Australian National University asks.
“A clue might be in that the last recorded occurrence of two of the species is around 2,000 years ago or shortly after. This is after the first arrival of agricultural societies and the introduction of animals like domestic dogs, pigs, and macaque monkeys in Luzon,” co-author Dr. Armand Mijares of the UP Diliman Archaeological Studies Program, who headed the excavations of Callao Cave, says.
“While we can’t say for certain based on our current information, this implies that humans likely played some role in their extinction,” Mijares argues.
Ancient Philippine biodiversity
According to Ochoa, the extinct mammals previously known from Luzon were all quite large. They included two types of elephants, a species of rhinoceros, a giant hog, and relatives of the living dwarf water buffalo called the tamaraw.
“There has been virtually no information about fossils of smaller-sized mammals,” she points out. “The reason is probably that research had focused on open-air sites where the large fossil mammal faunas were known to have been preserved, rather than the careful sieving of cave deposits that preserve a broader size-range of vertebrates including the teeth and bones of rodents,” Ochoa explains.
“Some of these fossils were actually excavated decades ago, in the 1970s and 1980s, and they were in the museum, waiting for someone to have time to do a detailed study,” says Reyes. “When we began to analyze the fossil material, we were expecting fossil records for known living species.”
“To our surprise, we found that we were dealing with not just one but three buot or giant cloud rat species that were previously unknown,” Reyes adds.
“Our previous studies have demonstrated that the Philippines has the greatest concentration of unique species of mammals of any country, most of which are small animals, less than 200 grams, that live in the tropical forest,” Heaney adds. “These recently extinct fossil species only show that biodiversity was even greater in the very recent past.”
Article by Dr. Janine Ochoa ([email protected]), Dr. Armand Mijares ([email protected]), and Dr. Lawrence Heaney ([email protected]). For inquiries, please email the authors.
Source: https://up.edu.ph/breakthrough-extinct-giant-rodents-discovered-in-the-philippines/
By: Krissy Aguilar
MANILA, Philippines — President Rodrigo Duterte has appointed University of the Philippines Electrical and Electronics Engineering associate professor Dr. Franz Asunta De Leon at the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).
In a statement Thursday, the DOST said De Leon was appointed as director of the agency’s Advanced Science and Technology Institute (ASTI) which leads research and development in the fields of information and communications technology, microelectronics, and space technology.
De Leon was sworn into office this Thursday before DOST Secretary Fortunato Dela Peña at the DOST-ASTI Building in Diliman, Quezon City.
He replaces Dr. Joel Joseph Sacro Marciano Jr. who was earlier named head of the Philippine Space Agency.
“During these challenging times, there is a need for solutions and applications that will uplift our spirits and help us adjust to the new normal. As the new ASTI Director, I want to make the Filipinos enjoy the benefits of innovative solutions in the field of ICT, Microelectronics and Space Technology,” De Leon said, as quoted in the statement.
“We will continue to work closely with our stakeholders to meet their expectations. We will also continue to invest not only in upgrading the facilities, but more importantly in our human resources to be agile and ready for the next generation technologies,” he added.
De Leon earned his bachelor’s degree in electronics and communications engineering in 2003, and his master’s degree in electrical engineering in 2005. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the University of Southampton in the United Kingdom in 2014.