Publications

Family structure, household resources, numbers of siblings competing for those resources, and parents’ own educational attainment are often important predictors of children’s education outcomes. Overseas migration of parents from the Philippines has resulted in increasing numbers of long-term separations of parents from each other and from their children. Western-based analyses might predict negative education outcomes for children as a result of parental absence. We find that separations caused by overseas migration often are either neutral or can have positive effects on schooling outcomes, at least among older children. Girls fare better in terms of educational attainment than do boys overall. Boys are often more affected by background variables, including parents’ international migration.

ABSTRACT Primary schools are supposed to provide a haven for young people to learn respect for individual differences and cultural diversity. However, schools often do not acknowledge cultural differences among their pupils or do not consciously consider the dynamics of these cultural differences in the school, which may lead to a simmering violence. This paper is an attempt to document the ways in which minority Muslim pupils in a primary public school develop different strategies of accommodation, assimilation, and resistance to the mainstream culture of the school.

This study investigates the interaction and dynamics between regulatory agencies and businesses in the context of developing the Philippine renewable energy sector using the perspectives and experiences of selected industry managers. Primary data were gathered through in-depth interviews with seven industry managers – three project developers of hydroelectric and geothermal plants, a managing director of a supply firm for renewable energy sources, and three executive secretaries from various renewable energy developers. The study analyzes the institutional arrangements for renewable energy development, particularly the pertinent legislations that were enacted since the restructuring of the electric power industry in 2001. Furthermore, using the interview data, the author probes into the interaction and dynamics between regulators and businesses, as well as issues, obstructions and constraints that were identified by the interviewees in developing the Philippine renewable energy sector. The study concludes, focusing on the effects of transaction costs and political connections on the future of the renewable energy sector in the Philippines.

The stochastic frontier model with heterogeneous technical efficiency explained by exogenous variables is augmented with a sparse spatial autoregressive component for a cross-section data, and a spatial-temporal component for a panel data. An estimation procedure that takes advantage of the additivity of the model is proposed, computational advantages over simultaneous maximum likelihood estimation of all parameters is exhibited. The technical efficiency estimates are comparable to existing models and estimation procedures based on maximum likelihood methods. A spatial or spatial-temporal component can improve estimates of technical efficiency in a production frontier that is usually biased downwards.

The stochastic frontier model with heterogeneous technical efficiency explained by exogenous variables is augmented with a sparse spatial autoregressive component for a cross-section data, and a spatial-temporal component for a panel data. An estimation procedure that takes advantage of the additivity of the model is proposed,  computational advantages over simultaneous maximum likelihood estimation of all parameters is exhibited. The technical efficiency estimates are comparable to existing models and estimation procedures based on maximum likelihood methods. A spatial or spatial-temporal component can improve estimates of technical efficiency in a production frontier that is usually biased downwards.

Teaching in a developing country is generally challenging due to the inadequate infrastructures in the development of teaching materials and the facilities in the delivery of such. The teacher has to be creative enough in developing
cost-effective teaching materials, and efficiently allocating the limited resources. Statistical consulting is generally taught using audio-visual infrastructure support. In the Philippines, it has to be taught through case studies, coaching and guided practice to complement the absence or inadequate audio-visual facilities. The methods are fairly adequate in imparting to the students the techniques and necessary skills in the practice of statistical consulting.

Although exercise motivation is a well-established research area in sport and exercise psychology in the West, relatively little work on this topic is available in the Philippines. The purpose of this study was to explore possible motives for exercise behaviour according to Filipino youth using an open-ended methodology. One hundred twenty-nine Filipinos aged 15 to 21 years old responded to a questionnaire asking them to free-list reasons for exercise. 497 responses (M = 3.9 per respondent) were coded by two independent judges using themes derived from the Exercise Motivation Inventory subscales (EMI-2; Markland & Ingledew, 1997). Data on exercise frequency and types of activities engaged in were also collected. The three most frequently identified reasons for exercise were: weight management (“to lose weight”), strength and endurance (“para lumakas”, which means “to increase strength”), and appearance (“to have a sexy body”). Challenge and competition were the least frequently cited reasons for exercise, according to respondents. Results also indicated motives that were outside those identified in the EMI-2 subscales, including: as a requirement, to boost self-esteem, and social influence factors. Future directions for research on exercise in the Philippines, including the construction and validation of a scale for exercise motivation among Filipinos, will be discussed.

In order to correctly and consistently use condoms as protection during sex, individuals first typically engage in preparatory behaviors such as acquiring a condom. This paper explores Filipino men’s efficacy beliefs about condom acquisition using data from the 2003 National Demographic & Health Survey. Results show that many Filipino men believe they could obtain a condom for themselves if they wanted to, though these efficacy beliefs were related to embarrassment about buying condoms, prior heterosexual experience, and socioeconomic status, but not to knowledge of condoms’ protective ability or to other demographic factors. The critical role of embarrassment as a social emotion surrounding condom acquisition as well as the importance of examining preparatory behaviors for research and intervention purposes are discussed.