Beginning with the crisis response

With the mobility restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, community-based rehabilitation (CBR) services also had to shift modality. The paper ā€œ¾ÅÉ«-based rehabilitation in the time of pandemic: Experiences of parents of children with disabilityā€ (co-authored by BS Occupational Therapy students Balangue, Chua, Ilagan, Juan, Labaco, and Noh, and academic staff Asst. Prof. Karen S. Sagun) conducted focus groups with parents whose children received CBR and found that they saw the potential of telecoaching to continue availing services, provided that the digital divide and initial doubt on technology can be overcome.

Building on the previous yearā€™s focus groups, a second study was conducted a year later, focused this time on access of low-income households to community-based telerehabilitation. The paper ā€œExploring the accessibility of community-based telerehabilitation for children with disabilities from low-income householdsā€ was co-authored by BSOT students Ryanne Nicole H. Alava, Kristine Therese S. Cablay, Katelyn A. Dagdag, Francis Rowelle P. Lagman, Kvaern Edgar S. Nocos, Jamela Y. Quidilla, Nina Mari M. Tan, along with Sagun. It was recently published in the International Journal of Telerehabilitation (Volume 16, Issue 2).

The second study found the need to provide a comprehensive approach to helping low-income households overcome access issues. In particular, affordable technology, family support, and policy advocacy must be provided by a combination of stakeholders: healthcare professionals, policy makers, and family beneficiaries. If the needed support is provided, technological competency and service delivery flexibility as well as telerehabiltation sustainability may be attained.

Transitioning to the blended modality

It was not only classes that transitioned to the blended delivery, as CBR for indigent children with disabilities (CWD) also eventually adopted the blended mode. Dubbed Flexicoaching, the QC Kabahagi Centerā€™s CBR program was tested for its effectiveness using a quasi-experimental research design that delved into retrospective records review. This the third study conducted by Thomasian researchers, this time by Sagun, along with students Balloon, DefiƱo, Guerrero, Managuelod, Oliva, and RiƱoza in 2024. The paper, entitled ā€œExamining the caregiverā€™s perception of occupational performance and satisfaction in community-based rehabilitation using blended online and onsite therapy,ā€ found primary caregiversā€™ perceived occupation performance and CWDsā€™ satisfaction were positive in a blended modality. The program enhanced ā€œsocial and educational participation, validating its potential as a sustainable service delivery model for children with disabilities in urban poor communities.ā€

Scaling the efforts

The fourth paper, entitled ā€œEffectiveness of community-based flexicoaching from low socioeconomic background using goal attainment scaling, used pre-test and post-design for the quasi-experimental study alongside the Goal Attainment Scale to measure intervention success for CWDs. The Flexicoaching program was found potentially valuable not just for occupational therapists, but also for physical therapists, and speech therapists, after validating remarkable effectiveness among 88.67% of the participants, who were part of the 406 cases reviewed.

According to QC Kabahagi Center Director and Department of Occupational Therapy academic staff Asst. Prof. Karen S. Sagun, MSOT, MRS, ā€œthe partnership between UST and QC Government through the Kabahagi Center exemplifies how academe-government collaboration can advance multiple Sustainable Development Goals, particularly in health, education, and reducing inequalities.ā€ The findings of the four studies provided informed evidence-based rehabilitation services that have been made accessible to urban poor communities and thus addressed social disparities.

Sagun added that while the collaboration began as a crisis response by BS Occupational Therapy students to see the effectiveness of Flexicoaching, the partnership has now shown ā€œcontinuous development of community-tailored rehabilitation approaches.ā€

The GCARSIH award, which looked into Filipino-developed programs that targeted an identified priority health need of a community, fetes transformative partnerships that help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals through integrated local governance, health innovation, and academic excellence. Among the selection criteria used were degree of innovativeness, significance, potential for further research and scale, inclusiveness, effectiveness, affordability, and participatory and co-owned nature.

Sagun acknowledged the invaluable support of Quezon City Mayor Hon. Ma. Josefina Belmonte, the QC Kabahagi center staff, UST College of Rehabilitation Sciences Dean Anne Marie C. Asron and Faculty of Medicine and Surgery Dean Ma. Lourdes D. Maglinao, along with the unitsā€™ officials, academic staff, researchers, and students. Sagun added: ā€œThis recognition honors the power of collective innovation in healthcare delivery. From dedicated frontline workers of the government to academic partners and the participatory leadership of the city, each stakeholder has contributed to building a sustainable model of inclusive, community-based rehabilitation services. The partnership has become a launchpad for healthcare innovations while nurturing generations of professionals deeply committed to serving vulnerable communities.ā€

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Among Castilloā€™s research highlights are drug delivery of natural products and product development. Her work with natural products and pharmacology have been published in journals such as Current Enzyme Inhibition, the Journal of Ethnopharmacology, and Neurotoxicology. Conditions that have been the subject of her studies include Alzheimerā€™s disease, osteoarthritis, and myeloid leukemia.

A decorated academic, she has been feted with the 2023 The Outstanding Pharmacist Award in Research by the Philippine Pharmacists Association, Inc. and the 2021 Best Mentor in Health Research Award by the Department of Science and Technology – Philippine Council for Health Research and Development. Recently, she was also named a recipient of the 2025 Faces of PACOP Award (Research Category) by the Philippine Association of College of Pharmacy.

Llamasares-Castillo teaches at the Faculty of Pharmacy and the Graduate School and is an academic researcher at the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences. She has recently partnered with Assoc. Prof. Donald G. Manlapaz, PhD, PTRP to establish the GRACE HUB with support from the TOMASInno Technology Business Incubator of the University.

The NRCP Achievement Award was established in 1979 to recognize ā€œmembers for their significant contributions to their respective fields.ā€ Among USTā€™s NRCP Achievement Awardees are Prof. Mario A. Tan, PhD (Chemical Sciences, 2023), Prof. Jovencio G. Apostol, PhD (Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2017),  Prof. Allan B. de Guzman, PhD (Governmental, Educational, and International Policies, 2006), and Prof. Maria Natalia R. Dimaano, PhD (Engineering and Technology, 2009).

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Etrata, the incumbent Chair of the Department of Marketing Management and immediate past Practicum Coordinator of the College of Commerce and Business Administration (CCBA), was also recognized for ā€œfostering a dynamic culture for student growth and development through published marketing research.ā€ The recognition is a testament to the use of ā€œinnovative teaching methods, industry expertise, mentorship, and contributions to enhancing the overall quality of marketing education in the Philippines.ā€

In an interview with the Communications Bureau, Etrata said the ā€œawardā€¦is a responsibilityā€”a reminder that I should do more, contribute more to making marketing education in the Philippines world class through improved pedagogy, curriculum innovation, relevant research, meaningful and industry-calibrated outputs.ā€ He extended deep gratitude to the CCBA officials, his colleagues in the Department of Marketing Management, students, alumni, partners and sponsors, as well as the UST Junior Marketing Association.

In the same interview, Etrata disclosed what the CCBA and Department has in store for students. These include the first-ever Marketing Bootcamp, which will be delivered by industry partners; the first national marketing summit to be hosted by UST; a collaboration with Philippine Retailers Association for a master class in retail marketing and creating a retail laboratory in UST; a research conference with the Philippine Marketing Research Educators of the Philippines (PAMRE); and a research fellowship abroad.

Etrata was nominated by a member of the PMA, whose past president, officers, and academe representatives served as panel of judges. Part of the screening process was the submission of the professional portfolio by the nominees. Holding a doctoral degree in Commerce and masterā€™s degree in Business Administration from UST, Etrata has served as Practicum and Local Linkages Coordinator of CCBA (2022-2024) and Pedagogical Lead (2024). He is the Vice-President of the Central Manila Chapter of PAMRE and is an active member of organizations like the Academy of International Business and International Society for Development and Sustainability.

Etrata helped facilitate the internship-to-employment program between PBCOM and UST, as well as collaborations for marketing research with PBCOM, McCormick, and the Philippine Transmarine Carriers, Inc. There is likewise an agreement with FPT University – Vietnam for international mobility programs. Also a researcher, Etrata has over forty publications, several of which are indexed in Scopus.

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The study, co-authored by fr. Austriaco with Mary Chelsea E. Diego and Red Lazaro of the Department of Biological Sciences, Angus White of Providence College – USA, and Allan Paola L. Almajose of the Department of Chemical Engineering, adapted a susceptible-infected-recovered model to help vaccinators administer the needed COVID-19 deterrent and arrest the spread of the disease. The model targeted the National Capital Region as the main focus area of widespread vaccine distribution to mitigate viral transmission, which was high in the capital, while the rest of the archipelago can first focus on medical frontliners, senior citizens, and adults with comorbidities.

The study, entitled ā€œ,ā€ was published in the Philippine Journal of Science and helped the Philippine government in distributing limited vaccine supply to the sectors who needed it most.

The NRCP Gabay Award is given annually to active NRCP members whose research works have resulted or translated to adopted technologies and policies; or have informed local and national policy-making.

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Ms. Anne Parojinog, MS won first place in the Oral Competition of the Biological and Health Sciences category (MS level) for her research entitled ā€œIntegrated Urban Ecology: A socio-ecological overview of Metropolitan Manila and bioecological study of its two urban protected forestsā€.

Meanwhile, Ms. Pauline Maglipon, MS won first place in the Poster Competition of the Agricultural and Environmental Science category for her poster entitled ā€œSpatiotemporal distribution and diversity of plant communities in post fire sites of Mts. Iglit-Baco Natural Park, Occidental Mindoro, Philippinesā€. Both Ms. Parojinog and Ms. Maglipon were under the supervision of Biological Sciences academic researcher Nikki Heherson Dagamac, Dr.rer.nat.

Another Environmental Biology alumna, Ms. Kamille Poblete, M.Sc. won third place in the Poster Competition of the Biological and Health Sciences category for her research entitled ā€œTemporal shifts of methane production and methane oxidizing bacteria communities: A limnological assessment in a tropical lake,ā€ which she conducted under the supervision of College of Science Dean Rey Donne S. Papa, PhD.

Lastly, Mr. Theo Victor Cavite of the MS Applied Physics major in Medical Physics program garnered second place in the Poster Competition of the Physical Sciences Category. His poster entitled ā€œNeutron spectrometry via in-115 activation foil at the Philippinesā€™ sole research reactorā€ was co-authored with his supervisors Dr. Alvie J. Asuncion-Astronomo of the Philippine Nuclear Research Institute and Asst. Prof. Roland Cristopher F. Caballar, Ph.D. of the UST Department of Mathematics and Physics.

These award-winning student researchers are part of the UST delegation composed of 13 DOST scholars, four Graduate School academic staff, and two UST DOST-ASTHRDP office project staff. The ¾ÅÉ« is a member of the National Science Consortium (NSC) under the ASTHRDP of the DOSTā€“Science Education Institute, which oversees the offering of scholarships in flagship Science and Technology graduate programs. UST is represented in the NSC by Dean Papa. First offered in UST in 2010, the DOST-ASTHRDP scholarship has supported 435 Master of Science graduates and 55 doctoral degree graduates. This academic year, there are 70 Master of Science and 6 doctoral students enjoying the scholarship.

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Bennett was recognized for research efforts as young researcher at the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences and for his work while a graduate student. Specifically, Bennettā€™s work on the taxonomy and evolution of oomycetes was recognized. Building on the comprehensive study by Dogma, Bennettā€™s contributions helped ā€œfill in the missing literature and knowledge gap in Philippine Oomycetes.ā€ His studies focus on oomycete taxonomy, ecology, and evolution. Recently, he has engaged with fellow Thomasian researchers on the applied aspects of oomycetes such as fatty acids and secondary metabolites. Among his collaborators, are Prof. Dr. Gina Dedeles, Inst. Mark Devanadera, Prof. Dr. Mafel Ysrael, Inst. Nono Caguimbal, and Asst. Prof. Dr. Kim Arafiles.

His current focus is researching with and training students ā€œwho are very willing to learn about these organisms,ā€ which he counts as a rarity as the work involves long hours of observations using a microscope to try and decode the oomycetes life cycle and development.

In his interview with the Communications Bureau, Bennett acknowledged College of Science Dean Rey Donne S. Papa, PhD for the nomination and his plant pathology and mycology professor at the UST Graduate School, Prof. Irineo J. Dogma, Jr., PhD, whom he hailed as the ā€œauthority on zoosporic fungi.ā€ He also thanked graduate research advisers Prof. Dedeles and Prof. Dr. Marco Thines. The Chair also thanked his colleagues and teachers in the department, namely Asst. Prof. Mae Lowe Diesmos, Prof. Dr. Thomas Edison E. dela Cruz, Prof. Dr. Pia Marie S.P. Albano, and Prof. Dr. Maureen Sabit.

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Winning the Third Prize is Inst. John Andrew C. Albay, PhD of the Department of Mathematics and Physics for his workĀ  “Colloidal Heat Engine Driven by Engineered Active Noise.” Albay becomes the first NAST TSYS awardee of the Department.

Receiving citations are Inst. Katherine Yasmin M. Garcia, MS of the Department of Chemistry and Asst. Prof. Jame Monren T. Mercado, MA of the Department of Tourism Management.

Garcia was recognized for her work entitled ā€œAntiproliferative and Cytotoxic Cytochalasins from š˜šš˜±š˜¢š˜³š˜µš˜Ŗš˜¤š˜°š˜­š˜¢ š˜µš˜³š˜Ŗš˜“š˜¦š˜±š˜µš˜¢š˜µš˜¢ Inhibit Action Polymerization and Aggregation.”

Meanwhile, Mercado, who is an academic researcher of the Research Center for Social Sciences and Education, was recognized for his work entitled ā€œYsla de Panciteria: A Preliminary Study on the Culinary Heritage Significance of Pancit Using the Heritage Documentation Approach ā€” the Case of Luzon Island, Philippines.ā€ Mercado co-authored the work with Dr. Avi Ben Andalecio, also of the College of Tourism and Hospitality Management.

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RCSSED Director Jeremaiah M. Opiniano (The University of Adelaide) won the 2024 Dissertation Award from the Mixed Methods International Research Association (MMIRA) for his doctoral project titled “Overseas Remittances and Rural Hometown Investing: Towards an Understanding of the Migration-and-Local Development Nexus.”Ā 

His PhD project, in May 2021, had already won the John Lewis Medal of Excellence for Outstanding Doctoral Research in Geography, from the Royal Geographical Society of South Australia (RGSSA), where Adelaide belongs.

MMIRAā€™s dissertation awards, the Association said, ā€œrecognize a beginning scholar completing original research whose dissertation has made an outstanding contribution to the field of mixed methods researchā€.Ā  Applicants to the 2024 MMIRA dissertation award must have the PhD thesis or dissertation defended / passed during the period December 1, 2020 to September 30, 2023.

Meanwhile, RCSSED Assistant Director Pia Patricia P. Tenedero (Macquarie University) will receive this year’s Virginia A. Miralao Excellence in Research Award (VAMERA) from the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC).

Tenedero won the award for her book titledĀ Communication that Counts: Language Practice and Ideology in Globalized AccountingĀ that comes from her PhD thesis at Macquarie University. The book was published as part of theĀ Language at WorkĀ series by publisher Multilingual Matters, based in Bristol in the United Kingdom.

VAMERA honors former PSSC Executive Director Dr. Virginia Miralao, and the prize comes from a 2012 grant to PSSC by Professor Emerita Dr. Belinda Aquino of the University of Hawaii at Manoa in the US. The award, handed out to a published journal article, book chapter or book, serves as an incentive (i.e., below 45 years old) ā€œto pursue original and meaningful researchā€.

Tenedero, currently an honorary research fellow at Macquarieā€™s Department of Linguistics, will receive a unique trophy made by noted visual artist Toym Leon Imao.

Both awardees belong to the Faculty of Arts and Letters‘ Journalism and English programs, respectively.

Drs. Yan Tan (primary) and Dianne Marie Rudd (co-supervisor) advised Opinianoā€™s project, while Distinguished Professor Ingrid Piller and Dr. Loy Lising acted as primary and co-supervisors, respectively of Tenedero.

The individual citations of the two officials come as RCSSED received the Outstanding Research Institution Award, for Social Sciences and the Humanities, from the National Research Council of the Philippines (NRCP) last March.

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NRCP approved Council Resolution 2024-06 to grant RCSSED the “Outstanding Institution Award (Cluster 1)” for the year 2023. The February 1, 2024 letter of NRCP writes that the Outstanding Institution Award “is given to outstanding institutions in recognition of their dedicated support and / or significant contribution to the growth and development of basic sciences, humanities, and the arts in the Philippines.”

NRCP will give the said award during its 2024 Annual Scientific Conference and General Assembly, slated this March 12 at the Philippine International Convention Center. 

RCSSED becomes the third UST research center to win this NRCP award, after the Research Center for the Natural and Applied Sciences (RCNAS, 2015) and the Research Center for Culture, Arts and Humanities (RCCAH, 2021).

RCSSED was formed in January 2017 as a spin-off center from the former Research Center for Culture, Education and Social Issues (RCCESI), where RCCAH also came from. Prof. Belinda D.V. de Castro, PhD of the College of Commerce and Business Administrator is RCSSED’s first director.

RCSSED took its roots from predecessor research centers that include the Social Research Center (SRC), the Institute of Development Education (IDE), and the Center for Educational Research and Development (CERD).

The criteria for NRCP’s outstanding institution award include:Ā 

• Publications in refereed and reputable journals (50 percent);
• External linkages and extension services, including support to policy formulation (20 percent);
• Research or service awards and recognitions received (15 percent); and
• Number of undergraduate and graduate students trained or number of personnel trained (15 percent).

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Guinto, a Doctor of Philosophy in Biological Sciences student of the Graduate School, studied the freshwater calanoid copepod which was named an invasive species. Genomic DNA were extracted to represent seven populations in Luzon. The noted population increase is attributed to ā€œthe suspected initial introduction via ornamental aquarium fish trade practices in 1905 and then a population range expansion through a single or multiple introduction event towards other nearby inland waters through accidental movement of A. dorsalis individuals via human-mediated activities, particularly aquaculture, which have persisted since 1972.ā€

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