Madayaw News

Chancellor Digal's remarks at the UPLB CEM Alumni Day, 2021

Written by Rene Estremera on 03 August 2021. Posted in Madayaw News

Remarks of University of the Philippines (UP) Mindanao Chancellor Larry N. Digal at the College of Economics and Management (CEM) Discussion Forum: Leadership in the New Normal, held on July 29, 2021, at the CEM Alumni Day, UP Los Baños

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Good morning to Chancy Cora [UP Baguio Chancellor Corazon L. Abansi], Chancy Dong [UPLB Chancellor Jose V. Camacho Jr.], Dean Agham [CEM Dean Cuevas], and to my friends and colleagues at the College of Economics and Management (CEM) and to all those who are viewing or listening to this discussion forum.

I’m pleased to be part of the founding anniversary celebration of CEM to share my views on leadership in the new normal and how CEM helped me in shaping my leadership skills and career. My views on leadership in the new normal are based on my own experience as a leader, particularly as a chancellor of UP Mindanao. Unlike Chancy Cora and Chancy Dong, I became chancellor before COVID hit us. My term started last March 1, 2019, so I was only operating for a year under a normal situation and the second year onwards under the new normal or COVID situation. And the second part of the sharing here is how the challenges, including opportunities, changed for UP Mindanao under this new normal and adjustments we made, as well as the insights I learned as a leader during this very difficult time for the university, and actually for all of us.

Before COVID, UP Mindanao launched an ambitious attempt to grow the university. Maybe you do not know that UP Mindanao is the smallest among the eight UP constituent universities (CU), particularly in terms of the number of manpower, teaching and non-teaching staff, the number of students, and budget. Another reason why the growth is slow, and part of it, is its age. We are relatively young compared to other UP CUs. Yes, we have a lot of opportunities to address the wicked problems here in Mindanao, particularly poverty and conflict. We have done a lot to address these given our limited resources since our birth 26 years ago, but we need more resources to do more. So we launched an ambitious expansion program under my term. This meant revising our vision, our mission, our goals, and mapping new strategies and priorities. We were very particular about the process in doing these, engaging both internal and external stakeholders, including experts, to comment on our plans. We even presented our expansion program in the Regional Alumni Institute assembly to mobilize support from the alumni and pioneers of UP Mindanao. We followed that up with a roadshow. Together with the prominent alumni and UP System officials, we presented our programs to secretaries of DBM, NEDA, and other government agencies. This was in November 2019, a few months before COVID struck.

Philippine Technology Transfer Act of 2009

Written by Rene Estremera on 01 August 2021. Posted in Madayaw News

The UP Mindanao Technology Transfer and Business Development Office (TTBDO), in collaboration with the SUSTAIN-IPTBM project, will be holding a five-day learning series for the improvement of knowledge, understanding, and the application of technology transfer commercialization among UP Mindanao constituents.

To start the Technology Commercialization Learning Series, TTBDO is inviting university faculty members, students, researchers, and staff to join the webinar on The Revised Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of the Philippine Technology Transfer Act of 2009 (RA 10055) on 11 August 2021 (Wednesday), 09:00 – 11:00 AM via Zoom Cloud Meeting.

To register, please click this link: https://forms.gle/oRhNXnWZ3GprSmAv, or scan this QR code:

Through this webinar, participants will learn about the government policy that aims to promote and facilitate the transfer, dissemination, and effective use, management, and commercialization of intellectual property, technology, and knowledge resulting from R&D funded by the government for the benefit of national economy and taxpayers, and hopefully encourage the UP Mindanao research community to put forward their research outputs for actual application and public use.

UP Mindanao hosts RESBAKuna

Written by Rene Estremera on 23 July 2021. Posted in Madayaw News

UP Mindanao facilitated the COVID-19 vaccination of 2,023 government personnel from June 30 to July 20, 2021 as a cooperating agency for the local RESBAKuna program organized by the Davao City Health Office and the Association of Regional Executives of National Agencies-Region XI (ARENA-XI).

The cooperating agencies were led by the Department of Science and Technology-Region XI (DOST-XI) headed by Regional Director Anthony Sales who is the current president of ARENA-XI. Doctors, auxiliary medical personnel, and personnel from various national government agencies served as volunteers in various capacities from the registration to post-vaccination. City Health personnel delivered the vaccines and carried out disinfection at the end of each day.

The RESBAKuna sessions were undertaken in time for the June 2021 vaccine roll-out for members of the A4 sector composed of frontline personnel in essential sectors, including government employees, as determined by the Department of Health and the national Inter-Agency Task Force for Communicable Diseases.

UP Mindanao served as a cooperating agency for RESBAKuna as part of its mandate as a public service university and as an advocate of science in support of public policy. The UP Mindanao vaccination team was constituted by Chancellor Prof. Larry Digal with Assoc. Prof. Lyre Anni Murao as the Focal Person and Site Supervisor and supported by Vice Chancellor for Administration Assoc. Prof. Karen Joyce Cayamanda as Overall Site Coordinator.

The vaccination was held in the building atrium and the university provided its adjoining classrooms, facilities, audio-visual equipment, computer units, and beds. Personnel services were also provided for data encoding, counseling, vaccine administration, security and maintenance. The science laboratory provided a refrigerator for vaccine storage under the supervision of Assoc. Prof. Aleyla de Cadiz as Cold Chain Manager. A number of UP Mindanao graduates extended their services as medical interns for the post-vaccination monitoring and assessment.

#UPDATE:

RESBAKuna in UP Mindanao on July 29-30, 2021 provided 770 persons with their second vaccine doses. The 770 persons on July 29-30 were composed of 383 essential workers mostly in government service, ten adults with co-morbidities, and two senior citizens.

Over the two days, there were no recorded Adverse Events Following Immunization (AEFI), no recorded refusals, or spoilage of vaccines.

RESBAKuna in UP Mindanao was co-organized with the City Health Office and the Association of Regional Executives of National Agencies (ARENA)-Region XI and was held in the UP Mindanao administration building, with personnel and logistical support provided by the university to augment the ARENA team of volunteers.

In the following weeks, UP Mindanao will continue to serve as a vaccination site from July 28 onward for the government personnel who are scheduled to receive their second dose of vaccines.

In the photos (clockwise from top left): View of the UP Mindanao Administration Building Atrium during the RESBAKuna vaccination day; Trained volunteers administer the vaccines; UP Mindanao graduates serve as medical doctors in the post-vaccination monitoring and assessment; Vaccinated personnel have their picture taken in the RESBAKuna photo wall.