NSTEP Visayas members visit Southern Leyte for project monitoring

A project team from the National Research Council of the Philippines Science and Technology Experts’ Pool (NSTEP) Visayas visited Southern Leyte State University (SLSU) to conduct an onsite project monitoring of the NSTEP-funded research projects in the institution. The project team comprised of Ms. Hazel Lynn Maganto and Ms. Jirah Mamigo from DOST VI and Ms. Gwendoline Seno from DOST VIII.

Kicking off the activity was a courtesy call meeting SLSU President, Dr. Prose Ivy Yepes. Also present during the meeting were Dr. Rhoderick Malangsa, SLSU’s Director for Research and Innovation, Dr. Constantino Medilo, Jr. and Dr. Gladys Pascual. Both who are Project Leaders of NSTEP-funded projects in the university.

On the first day, the team visited the municipality of Saint Bernard, Southern Leyte where a project dubbed, “Cultural Definition of Vulnerability to Impacts of Climate Change” is being implemented by Dr. Medilo. It focuses on the Mamanwa Group, an Indigenous People’s (IP) group native to Panaoan Island, Southern Leyte, Agusan del Norte, Surigao del Norte, and Surigao del Sur, who rely on natural resources due to lack of modern technologies and other sources of livelihood. Thus, makes them more vulnerable to climate change. Dr. Medilo’s research seeks to determine how these cultural characteristics influence their level of susceptibility.

The following day, the team headed to SLSU-Bontoc Campus which houses the “Evaluation of Cell Viability and Anti-microbial Capacity of Crown-of-Thorns Starfish (COTS) Fractions” project. After a tour of the laboratories and introduction of equipment used during analyses, the team proceeded to the municipality of San Francisco for the project’s sampling site. There, Dr. Pascual’s research team demonstrated how crown-of-thorn (COT) starfish were properly handled, morphometrically analyzed, and sex identified.

The projects will undergo quarterly monitoring to be conducted by the NSTEP project team until their completion. (KJRGagajena/DOSTVI-KMU)