Senate honors UP PEJA Fellowship Awardees

The Senate on Tuesday, September 26, 2023 adopted a resolution commending the recipients of the recently relaunched University of the Philippines President Edgardo J. Angara (UP PEJA) Fellowship awards.

Senate Majority Leader Joel Villanueva sponsored Senate Resolution No. 812 giving recognition and commending the awardees of UP PEJA Fellowship Awards. All senators were made co-authors of the resolution.

Villanueva said the UP PEJA Fellowship Award is given to members of the academe, researchers and scholars in the Philippines or abroad "who have distinguished themselves in policy research and has shown leadership potential, experience, and most importantly, commitment to service and the improvement of the education sector."

It was established on September 29, 2008 by the UP Board of Regents to promote high-level policy discussions and research on topics that address national development goals and initiatives, including ?scal budget and ?nancial studies, politics, public administration, good governance, employment policy and job creation.

It was relaunched this year to support the mandate of the Second Congressional Commission on Education or EDCOM II to study and review the education sector and provide recommendations on reforms that need to be implemented to further improve the quality of education in the country.

The awarding ceremony held at the plenary hall was a commemoration of the late Senator Edgardo J. Angara's 89th birthday. He was born on September 24, 1934.

EDCOM I is the brainchild of Angara "and this partnership between UP and EDCOM II to award the PEJA Fellowship to distinguished policy researchers will ensure that his legacy lives on in the improvement of the Philippine education sector," Villanueva said.

Villanueva also thanked the family of the late senator led by his wife Gloria M. Angara, who was present during the ceremony, for their unwavering support to the fellowship.

"For the relaunch of the award, a total of 19 research proposals by 23 distinguished individuals in their fields have been selected. The fellowship will last for one year, in which time the fellows will conduct research on the priority areas identified by EDCOM II," Villanueva said.

The awardees were:

1. Kenneth Isaiah Abante and Riz Supreme Comia of WeSolve Foundation;

2. Dr. Michael Alba, Immediate Past President of Far Eastern University;

3. Dr. Cleve Arguelles, Assistant Professional Lecturer at the De La Salle University and Joel Paulin Mendoza, Education Specialist Consultant at World Bank;

4. Dr. Lisa Grace Bersales, Professor at the UP School of Statistics;

5. Dr. Krista Danielle Yu, Associate Professor at the DLSU and Dr. Michael R. Cabal?n of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies;

6. Dr. Ma. Assunta C. Cuyegkeng;

7. Dr. Geoffrey Ducanes;

8. Dr. Ma. Regina M. Hechanova- Alampay;

9. Dr. Enrique Niño P. Leviste and Dr. Ma. Glenda Lopez Wui;

All are professors at the Ateneo de Manila University

10. Dr. Elizabeth M. King, Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University;

11. Dr. Rosario G. Manasan, Senior Education Policy Economist and TA Team Leader, Secondary Education Support Program of the Asian Development Bank;

12. Carolyn Medel-Añonuevo, former Education Unit Head of the UNESCO Regional Office for Southern Africa;

13. Dr. Dina S. Ocampo, Professor at the UP College of Education;

14. Dr. Carmencita Padilla, National Scientist and Chancellor of the University of the Philippines-Manila;

15. Dr. Maria Mercedes T. Rodrigo, Professor at the Ateneo Department of Information Systems and Computer Science;

16. Dr. Luis Sison, Professor at the University of the Philippines;

17. Dr. Luis Rey Velasco, Executive Member of the National Innovation Council and former Chancellor of the University of the Philippines-Los Baños;

18. Dr. John Paul C. Vergara, Professor at the Ateneo de Manila University; and

19. Dr. Felicia Yeban, Full Professor at the Philippine Normal University

"I am already hopeful and looking forward to what our esteemed fellows will find out in their respective research studies, as well as their recommendations to bring the Philippine education sector to new height," Villanueva said..

Members of the UP PEJA Fellowship Committee who thoroughly scrutinized the several applications submitted are: UP President Atty. Angelo Jimenez, Sen. Sonny Angara, Dr. Emerlinda Roman., Dr. Ma. Cynthia Rose Banzon-Bautista, and Science and Technology Sec. Arsenio Balisacan.