College of Humanities and Social Sciences

Creative works nourish Philippine-Japan relations

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in News

The Philippine Federation of Japanese Government Scholars (PhilaJames) celebrated Philippine-Japan Friendship Day 2022 with an exhibit on the theme “Strengthening Friendship Through Artworks.” Dr. Mercidita Villamayor, a dean of Bukidnon State University, and Atty Malu Viva, both Philajames scholars, opened the exhibit on July 30, 2022.

The exhibit shows the twin themes of Filipino and Japanese life through the paintings of visual artist Teody Boylie Perez, a Philajames scholar and associate professor at the University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao Department of Humanities.

The Filipino paintings feature Prof. Perez’s recurrent themes of life in marginalized communities and the indigenous people. “Fisherman’s Village,” at eight feet wide and three feet high, is the biggest work on display. In addition, his GSIS painting competition finalist, “Life Goes On,” is featured in the exhibit.

The Japanese paintings feature rural communities and ancient locations, which the artist produced during his six-year residency as a masteral and doctoral scholar in Japan.

Prof. Perez also delivered two lectures on the historical development of art in Japan and the Philippines compared to the Western world to further enrich appreciation of the Philippine-Japan relationship.

The exhibit, the artist’s 15th solo exhibit, is located in his residence and gallery in Ulas, Davao City.

Prof Perez has exhibited his paintings and artworks of Davao community life in Japan, China, and the USA, earning him a Datu Bago Award from the Davao City government.

More photos here: https://www.facebook.com/bong.perez.3597/posts/pfbid0jWCKp6kXf3395XZFmWNLJ3z9dBd3x1xfjw12PkWkM715zvdk2sJXp2V1GWdSt3fHl

Disaster-prone Davao City villages urged to codify local plans

Written by Rene Estremera. Posted in News

A paper by Assoc. Prof. Karen Joyce Cayamanda urged barangay or village groups to share best practices and codify their experiences following flooding and other localized disasters in order to build up apt responses in various areas. Prof. Cayamanda made this recommendation in her paper on risk communication management presented at the 3rd International Conference on Multidisciplinary Industry and Academic Research (ICMIAR) held online on July 29-30, 2022.

Cayamanda said sharing community-based experiences can show how community members react and adapt to disasters and stimulate risk perception and communication among residents, from which community mechanisms can emerge that strengthen the collective responses and increase a community’s resilience against future threats.

Prof. Cayamanda’s paper earned her a “Best Presenter” award at the conference plenary session and acquires renewed relevance in the wake of recent community-level disruptions in her study area and continuing local government efforts to improve their DRRM system.

“The prevalent risk communication system is ‘top-down’ despite local residents' awareness of their vulnerability,” she said.

“In this way, communities can build or discover their own adaptive mechanisms, encourage an active response, and further strengthen the community. Their efforts can complement the traditional ‘top-down’ centralized disaster risk-reduction management (DRRM) approach,” she said.

The ICMIAR conference, with the theme “Sustaining community resilience through education and research,” was organized by the Institute of Industry and Academic Research Incorporated, a registered publisher and continuing professional development provider. It also had sessions focusing on business management and accounting, education management and development studies, science, technology, engineering, and mathematics, and the humanities and the social sciences.

Recently, Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte told barangays to consolidate similar concerns, including security and disaster response, as the local government drafts its executive-legislative agenda in the next few months.

Traditionally, the local government places a large percentage of its annual budget for disaster response as a part of the Local Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Fund.

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