Are there issues related to the environment that you and/or the other faculty members of your department are pursuing?
I am now working on three interrelated research projects that address different environmental concerns: the Challenges of Agrarian Transition in Southeast Asia (CHATSEA), the Philippines-Australia Land Administration and Management Project(LAMP) and the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies(GRIPS) projects. For the CHATSEA project, we look at the environmental and socio-economic changes that are taking place in the rapidly urbanizing rural areas in Southeast Asia in the context of globalization, market integration, environmental transformations and population migrations. I collaborate with seventeen other social scientists (mostly geographers) from other universities in Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand) and research and academic institutions in Canada, the UK and Australia. The project duration of CHATSEA is from 2005-2010 and this is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada. The main objective of this project is to entice graduate students to do their field research on issues that pertain to the changing agricultural landscapes. Not many researchers are paying attention to this set of concerns nowadays. Bulk of the funding is oriented at supporting the graduate work of my thesis advisees.

The LAMP-administered project is a small-grant undertaking that I particularly like. The research looks at the implications of the increasing number of urban-based absentee-landowners on land reform implementation and agricultural productivity at the barangay scale. I will be doing this from January to May 2008 in the province of Quezon. I would like to highlight the assistance on data provision that sis Tess Dejelo-Bernardo (Monosomic ’76) and Luchie Atienza-Campomanes (Ikatlong Bahagi ’78) have been extending me on this project. Iba pag may mga sis ka sa government offices, mas madali mag-research, may data na may masayang kuwentuhan pa. Wala akong malaking research honorarium dito, pangcover lang ng logistics, pero yong dalawang RAs ko meron siempre. This project allows me to cooperate with two of my former students in the BS Geography program; this is part of the mentoring process that occupies most of my working time. I have been doing this for the past three years and I will continue doing this in the next four or five years pa. Tapos nito, gusto ko na ding kumita ng pera kasi, nasakit na ang mga kalamnan ko at mga joints, tumatanda na din ako.

I am also doing a survey on seismic risk perception among 800 residents of Barangay West Rambo in Makati City. This is a short-term survey activity (from January 15 to March 15, 2008) that I am doing to help a colleague from the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan. Wala akong additional earnings for doing this survey kasi tinutulungan ko lang kaibigan ko dito. There was a problem with the study that he was undertaking in another country (I am not sure whether it’s Pakistan or Indonesia), as part of his four-country study on seismic risk perception, so he asked me if I could help finish the project by holding a similar survey here in the Philippines. In short, panakip-butas lang yong participation ko dito. But it’s okay, it will be productive for the residents of several local communities in Barangay West Rembo anyway. Also, I assist another colleague to finish his research study. More importantly, I am able to involve my senior and graduating geography students in a work activity that they can later include in their resume as neophyte job-seekers, may kunting kita pa sila as survey enumerators.

Basing from these narratives, obvious ba na ang primary means ko pa rin of supporting my daily needs is my teaching in UP? I love it when I am interacting with my students inside a UP classroom. I appreciate learning from, and exchanging ideas with, them. Although, tutuo ang tsismis na teaching in UP is not really purse-friendly. 47 years old na ako at wala pa rin akong binabayaran na real estate tax dito sa Quezon City, pero maayos naman ang UP-owned apartment na aming tahanan dito sa Hardin ng Bougainvilla ng UP Campus.

Last Updated on October 12, 2016 by Tudla_Admin