Using the mixed methods tool “Remittance Investment Climate Analysis in Rural Hometowns,” the researchers found that across the six municipalities, there was no common trend “among municipalities that combining a sound investment climate, an ample number of financial institutions, high levels of residents’ financial literacy, and an active program for migrants and their families all ensure remittances-induced hometown investing.” The researchers called for instituting investment climate reforms to help ensure that remittances will fuel local development.

The , published in the Asian and Pacific Migration Journal in 2024, was recognized in the 2025 National Academy of Science and Technology awards with the Outstanding Scientific Paper Award.

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The mixed method study documented how journalists negotiated “the impact of COVID-19 coverage on their mental health” through surveys and in-depth interviews uncovered how journalists balanced doing their jobs and trying to avoid contracting the dreaded disease and possibly infecting their loved ones. Only 47% of the interviewed journalists in the Philippines and Malaysia said they were given protective gear, and some experienced companies’ refusal to cover the cost of testing—something that the Philippine government strictly required especially during the time when vaccines were not yet available.

Exposure to the virus was not the sole source of mental health strain, though, as the sustainability of the journalism outfits was also a concern—especially in the Philippines. With the Philippines counted as one of the countries with the strictest mobility restrictions, lockdown-induced business losses forced community newspapers to close. Journalists likewise juggled both in-person and virtual news coverage, resulting in heavier workload and the need to always be ready to report.

Salvosa and Esguerra are academic researchers of the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and the Humanities. Salvosa is a co-adviser of the Varsitarian and is the incumbent Chair of the Department of Journalism.

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In a chapter entitled “,” the three scholars pointed out that the “spread of misinformation, amplified on social media and other digital platforms, is proving to be as much a threat to global public health as the virus itself.” Rumors, hate speech, conspiracy theories, and orchestrated deception campaigns have collectively led to the “large-scale contamination of the public sphere,” the scholars averred, relating to the “information disorder” now present.

The Philippine context was investigated alongside those of Malaysia and Pakistan while utilizing the risk journalism framework of the Global Risk Journalism Hub. Common among interviews with journalists are the observations of an “increasingly fractious, populist, and polarized political environment” in which extremist views of vaccination, promotion of treatment without scientific evidence, and lack of digital literacy leading to the belief in conspiracy theories were among the findings.

The article is part of the new book Ecologies of Global Risk Journalism, published by Routledge in 2024. Salvosa is the incumbent Chair of the new Department of Journalism, and he serves as Co-Adviser of the Varsitarian. Both are academic researchers of the Research Center for Culture, Arts, and the Humanities.

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MA in Journalism candidate Tyrone Jasper Piad won the Best Business Feature Award for his three-part series in 2023 “The costs of mobility and the increasing use of cycling,” done for the Philippine Daily Inquirer. This series was the capstone requirement for the course Data Journalism. The articles are as follows:

â—Ź      Part 1:

â—Ź      Part 2:

â—Ź      Part 3:

Piad is actually a back-to-back winner for Best Business Feature for EJAP. Last year, Piad won for his 2022 story with his former outlet BusinessMirror titled “.”

MA in Journalism lecturer Jasper Emmanuel Arcalas also won, this time as the Agriculture and Mining Reporter of the Year. Arcalas, a 2024 graduate who’s a newly hired lecturer at the BA in Journalism program, has been winning national awards and one international award while being a scholar for The Varsitarian, studying in the graduate journalism program.

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