CPAf alumni honored for excellent contributions in their fields

by Stella Concepcion R. Britanico and Evelie P. Serrano

Four CPAf alumni received the CPAf College Distinguished Alumni Awards during the UPLB Loyalty Day Celebration and Alumni Awarding Ceremonies held on October 9, 2019 at the UPLB Baker Hall. They were Dr. Katsuhisa Ota (MS Community Development (CD) ’99 and PhD CD ‘07), Atty. Rommel A. Gecolea (Master in Public Affairs ‘13), Dr. Josefina T. Dizon (PhD CD ‘97), and Dr. Weerapon Thongma (PhD Extension Education ‘01) who was also a recipient of The Outstanding UPLB Alumni Award (TOUAA).

Dr. Ota bagged the CPAf College Distinguished Alumnus for Social Entrepreneurship and Development award. Dr. Ota, a Japanese national, has been providing local farmers in Davao, Philippines with skills, employment, and income through a social enterprise he established in 2017, the Pistacia Mindanao Coffee Export, Inc. This micro- and small-enterprise specializes in the production, manufacturing, and export of high-quality coffee and cacao beans. As Chief Executive Officer, Dr. Ota is responsible for all activities of the business – from community level to export/marketing in Japan. At the community level, he trains the farmers to increase the quality of the beans and facilitates awareness raising on environmental protection. Before Dr. Ota focused on helping Filipino farmers, he was a consultant of development projects in various countries for 15 years. He also served as community worker in Davao for more than a year under a Japanese non-government organization.

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PASSAGE, KMO hold learning event on journal article writing

by Stella Concepcion R. Britanico

Twenty-nine faculty, researchers, and staff from 13 state universities and colleges participated in the Training-workshop on Journal Article Writing on July 30–August 1, 2019 at CPAf Rooms 303-304.

The activity was conducted by the Philippine Association of Agri-vironment Educators and Entrepreneurs, Inc. (PASSAGE), co-sponsored by the College of Public Affairs and Development (CPAf) and co-organized by the Knowledge Management Office (KMO) of CPAf.

“The training-workshop aims to provide participants with the knowledge and skills on writing publishable journal articles,” said Dr. Maria Ana T. Quimbo, PASSAGE vice-president for Luzon and chair of the organizing committee. “Since we, in the academe, are expected to create and share knowledge, publishing articles in reputable journals will help us in fulfilling this responsibility,” added Dr. Evelie P. Serrano, KMO head, in her opening remarks.

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Dean Bello discusses academic partnership with Yeungnam University

by Stoix Nebin S. Pascua

CPAf Dean Rolando T. Bello and Dr. Emely Dicolen met with Prof. Kisu Kim on April 9, 2019 to discuss the details of partnership, specifically on the Saemaul Undong short-term training for CPAf students, faculty, and partner-agencies. Prof. Kim is the Dean of the Park Chung Hee School of Policy and Saemaul (PSPS) of Yeungnam University in South Korea. Also discussed is the opportunity of sending students as scholars to take the MS degree in International Development with focus on Saemaul Undong.

Saemaul Undong, according to the Korea Saemaul Undong Center, refers to any community development movement, which builds a village or community to improve villagers’ quality of life based on the spirits of diligence, self-help and cooperation, and approaches by the villagers, of the villagers and for the villagers. Saemaul Undong is also based on self-reliant decision-making through the process of planning, implementation, evaluation, and feedback to the next phase.

In April 2018, UPLB Chancellor Fernando C. Sanchez, Jr. and Yeungnam University President Sur Gil-soo signed a memorandum of understanding between CPAf and PSPS for collaborative activities in academic areas of interest.