Noynoy Aquino is probably the first President of the Philippines who has recommended to Congress that the budget of the state university and college (SUC) system be cut. At the apex of this system is the University of the Philippines (UP), which received a 20% cut which is around 1.39 billion pesos. In the past, [...]
A few billions and the future of Philippine science
July 1, 2009 By 48 Comments
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will go down in history as the only Malacanang tenant to seriously consider the importance of investing in big scale science infrastructure. While previous presidents have paid lip service to the importance of science, their words did not match the budget appropriations, until Gloria came around. Gloria has issued an executive order [...]
Its college entrance exam time!
June 23, 2009 By 19 Comments
Friends who have kids about to enter college have been pestering me on how to improve their kids chances of getting into 1) UP, 2) Ateneo 3) DLSU and 4) UST. The kids are in the process of lodging applications for admissions in the university. Even a monsoonal downpour wasn’t able to disperse a long [...]
A show with everything but Bayani Fernando!
June 6, 2009 By 58 Comments
Bangkok Thailand: I just returned from Chulalongkorn’s field station on the Gulf of Thailand. This is my first good look at the Thai capital. Colleagues from Chula and Thammasat tell me that the recession hit Thailand bad. They say that the city isn’t crawling with Westerners unlike in the past. They took me to the [...]
This hot graduation season:a reflection on uncertainty
March 26, 2009 By 18 Comments
The end of the second semester is always a headache for professors like me. For one thing the real summer has kicked in. As someone who keeps tab on climate as part of my career responsibilities, I can probably divide the Pinoy summer into two “sub seasons”. The early summer (late Feb and early March) is [...]
Philippine marine science and oceanography: headed for choppy waters or calm seas
January 26, 2009 By 5 Comments
The UP Marine Science Institute just held a forum webcast through the UP centennial lectures website. The forum was about the future prospects and problems of marine science and oceanography in the country. Since we are an archipelagic country, marine science and oceanography have important roles in 1) science and technological advancement, 2) food security [...]
Where to next UP and Philippine higher education?
November 19, 2008 By 75 Comments
This another of my attempts to echo the UP centennial lectures. Since my chair has given me the unenviable task of attending as much as possible these lectures, I might as well tell all FV readers what the lectures were all about. Besides many FV readers are UP alums and since there is renewed drive to get [...]
Things get interesting in Loyola Heights!
October 27, 2008 By 80 Comments
Yesterday or was it the day before?; Ateneo de Manila professors got important news space for the 15 October position paper they issued on the Reproductive Health Bill. The professors support the bill and the blurbs have it as “Ateneo profs defy bishops, back family planning bill”. Ateneo’s President, Fr Bienvenido Nebres later issued this [...]
On university rankings: views from both sides of Katipunan Road
October 21, 2008 By 29 Comments
I just arrived from a grueling field survey only to get an “important” email to the faculty from the Chancellor of the University of the Philippines in Diliman. And what was this “important” email all about? It was about the recent THES university rankings! The blurbs and their op eds have reported their reactions on the latest THES [...]
What’s really wrong with Philippine science?
September 26, 2008 By 18 Comments
Professor Flor Lacanilao, a marine scientist of well renown, former chancellor of the University of the Philippines Visayas and director of the aquaculture department of SEAFDEC has recently rocked the Pinoy science establishment in a series of essays and letters to the blurbs and the blogs. I won’t post the links here but the reader [...]
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