Publications

Developing countries like the Philippines have embarked on efforts to ensure energy supply security through renewable energy (RE) development. Developing RE requires policy responses to a multitude of issues such as infrastructure financing, support for research and development (R&D), and administrative procedures, to name a few. The government plays a vital role in addressing these issues. Needless to say, it is imperative for the Philippine government to formulate rules and policies, as well as establish institutions that will govern and resolve the multi-dimensional issues related to the development of renewable energy in the Philippines. This study examines the response of the Philippine government to develop renewable energy in the Philippines by particularly looking at the Renewable Energy Act of 2008 (Republic Act 9513). How does this law define the role of government in initiating and mobilizing efforts for renewable energy development? What issues have emerged afterwards? The study describes the features of the law. It also analyzes the raison d’ etre of the legislation by examining its purpose, functions, and what it intends to address. The law is analyzed in the context of the current Philippine energy situation; its institutional and procedural arrangements. The concluding section of the study focuses on specific issues such as research and development (R&D), and the bureaucratic processes that have emerged in light of the enactment of this legislation.

[Excerpt]

Dahil sa ang Unibersidad ng Pilipinas ang siyang pambansang pang-estadong pamantasan ng bansa, ito ang pangunahing naninindigan sa paggamit ng pambansang wikang Filipino sa diskurso sa loob ng nasabing akademikong pamayanan. Tulad ng nabanggit sa itaas, malalim ang pakikilahok ng Departamento ng Linggwistiks sapagkat ito ang kaniyang pundamental na raison d'être. Dahil sa ang UP Diliman ay nasa Lunsod ng Quezon, Pambansang Punong Rehiyon, ginagamit ng Unibersidad, at ng Departamento, ang Filipino variety ng Kalakhang Maynila.

[...] Ang siyentipikong pag-aaral sa wika ay ipinakilala sa bansa sa pamamagitan ng pagtatatag ng Departamento ng Linggwistiks sa Unibersidad ng Pilipinas noong 1922. Gayunman, hindi ibig sabihing ang mga naunang pag-aaral sa (gramatika ng) mga wika sa Pilipinas tulad ng pagsusuring panggramatika ni Rizal (1962) ay hindi linggwistiks. Bago sa panlasa ng academic community ang brand ng Linggwistiks na ipinakilala noong 1922 dahil sa mga bagong metodolohiya at lapit sa wika na in-introduce sa bansa. Ang puntong yaon ang naghudyat sa pagyabong ng kaalaman at pagti-theorise tungo sa makabagong pananaliksik hinggil sa mga wika ng Pilipinas.

SALINDAW: Varayti at Baryasyon: Ang salitang salindaw ay nagmula sa wikang Maguindanao at Maranao na ang ibig sabihin ay maningning, marikit, sikat, sinag, o nagbibigay liwanag. Tulad ng wika, ang varayti at baryasyon nito ay tila mga sinag ng araw na nagmumula sa isang malaking liwanag na nakabubuo ng iba’t ibang sinag na espesipikong nagbibigay ng mga diwa sa bawat bahagi ng lipunan. Napili ito upang maipakita ang yaman ng mga salitang Filipino mula sa iba’t ibang wika ng Pilipinas. Nilalayon ng aklat na ito na mabigyan ng linaw ang mga konsepto at teorya, mailahad, masuri at mabigyan linaw ang mga pag-aaral ng varayti at baryasyon sa wikang Filipino sa usaping panglingguwistiks, pangheograpiya, pangkultura, panlipunan, pang-okupasyon at pang-akademya at ang kahalagahan at papel ng mga varayting ito sa konteksto ng pagpaplano sa wikang pambansa.

The sampling design for the 2011 Survey of Enterprises in the Philippines is used to illustrate sampling from a skewed population that is characterized by large population variance. The modifi ed Lavallee-Hidiroglu stratifi cation algorithm is used to simultaneously determine the stratum boundaries and the optimum sample size that will minimize the coeffi cient of variation. The principles behind “threshold” sampling is then used in excluding segment of the population containing “minimal” information while the segment containing the “most” information is considered as certainty ratum. An estimation procedure is also presented.

The book contains essays on various topics like journalism, media, communication, politics, economics, culture, technology, blogging and web authoring. While most of the essays are written in the Philippines, the book also includes those written during the author’s stay in Indonesia and South Korea.

With the observation that a potential for accidents is invented simultaneously with the coming to being of any new technology, it may be considered that scandals are an integral risk of ICT and of the sudden shift in speed and scale of communication and use of information introduced by these technologies. This chapter focuses on how Filipinos more than any other people in the world seem to be particularly interested in 'scandal' and at the forefront of exploring the potential of this facet of cybertechnologies. This is a phenomenon that is readily apparent when one looks up the statistics on GoogleTrends over the last five years or so for the single search term 'scandal'. The term 'scandal' in fact has come to have a new meaning for Pinoys, who are astute to its value and potential 'social life' both as a digital object and as a picture or story that is animated by resonance with other images and social narratives. This chapter explores ethnographically the apparent social fascination of Pinoys with 'scandal' as a creative product, and a digital object/commodity, gendered dimensions of 'scandal'making, and 'scandal'mongering as an emergent process of shaping values and opinions and of acting through cybertechnologies. The material discusses the production of 'scandal' as an inherent potential of the interactive new media, and how (paired with 'piracy' in a Third World setting), the movement of digitized 'scandals' from the participation, both playful and serious, in Filipino pop-cyberculture may impact on society.

Wittgenstein offers a method of engagement and participation that enables us to establish overlaps between the public and the private. One such overlap is social courage. The duty to help is not a matter of entitlement, but it is an obligation that comes from our sense of connection with others. Wittgenstein’s method of language-games enables us to extend this sense of connection even to strangers because it a ‘socially reflective mode of learning’ through which we are better able to take the perspective of others. Obligations do not just come from a system of codified rules, but from the sense of agency we acquire as a result of reflective engagement in different practices. Wittgenstein does not advance any substantive thesis, but the critical nature of his method offers a framework for understanding social courage without leading to the antagonism between altruism and rationality

Agsursurotayo nga AgIlokano: Ang aklat ay tungkol sa pag-aaral at pagtuturo ng gramatikang Ilokano. Naglalaman ito ng batayang kasanayan sa pananalita, pakikinig, pagbasa at pagsulat sa kolokyal na Ilokano. Hinati ito sa tatlong yunit na may 15 aralin, na naglalaman ng mga leksiyon na nakasentro sa mga pang-araw-araw na sitwasyon sa tunay na buhay ng isang mag-aaral. Ang mga aralin ay sumusunod sa estruktura ng wikang Ilokano tulad ng nasa Yunit I, isinabay ang pagtuturo ng mga panghalip at mga pangngalan; sa Yunit II naman ay nakapokus sa mga pang-uri, at sa Yunit II ay nakasentro sa pandiwa at pang-abay. Sa ganitong paraan, ang mga batayang kasanayan sa gramar ng bawat leksiyon ay paghahanda sa kasunod na leksiyon.

Co-authors Martin Loffelholz and Danilo Arana Arao say the book gives a practical explanation of how journalists should tackle issues pertinent to the region when reporting on Asean. (quoted from a book review published on May 6, 2011 in The Jakarta Globe, http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/home/handbook-ajournalists-guide-to-penet...)