Abstract / Excerpt:

The Eastern Mindanao Area Research Consortium (EMARC) was formally established on 8 January 1982 upon the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC) and four Mindanao- based academic-institutions. Ateneo de Davao University, (Davao City), Holy Cross College of Digos (Davao del Sur) Notre Dame University (Cotabato City), and Urios College (Butuan City). Fr. Arong (President of Notre Dame University) was elected Chairman of the EMARC Governing Body, with Ms. Teresita N. Angeles (Director of the Social Research Office of the Ateneo de Davao University) as EMARC Coordinator. In June 1982, Fr. Emeterio Barcelon (President of Ateneo de Davao University) was elected Chairman in lieu of Fr. Arong whose term of office as university president has expried.

It has since pursued a range of research-related activities in its efforts to promote local expertise in conducting socioeconomic and cultural researches relevant to the development needs of the region. Such areas of mutual cooperation and assistance among the consortium-members include designing and conducting a joint research project on poverty, participating in various training-workshops conducted during the research project, and designing a graduate-program in applied social research for faculty and staff development.

Full Text

Annual Report: 1982  

The Eastern Mindanao Area Research Consortium (EMARC) was formally  established on 8 January 1982 upon the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement between the Philippine Social Science Council (PSSC) and four Mindanao-based academic institutions Ateneo de Davao University, (Davao City), Holy Cross College of Digos (Davao del Sur) Notre Dame University (Cotabato city), and Urios College (Butuan City). Fr.  Arong (President of Notre Dame University) was elected Chairman of the EMARC Governing Body, with Ms. Teresita N. Angeles (Director of the Social Research Office of the Ateneo de Davao University) as EMARC Coordinator. In June 1982, Fr. Emeterio Barcelon (President of Ateneo de Davao University) was elected Chairman in lieu of Fr.  Arong whose term of office as university president has expired.

      It has since pursued a range of research-related activities  in its efforts to promote local expertise in conducting socioeconomic and cultural researches relevant to the development needs of the region. Such areas of mutual cooperation and assistance among the consortium-members include designing and conducting a joint research project on poverty, participating  in various training workshops conducted during the research project, and designing a graduate-program in applied social research for faculty and staff development.

EMARC Research Project

     The initial research project addressees itself to rural poverty and id entitled “A Multi-purpose Study of Fishing Villages in Eastern Mindanao.” It focuses on the socio-psychological and economic realities confronting 400 fishermen households located in four fishing villages.
The survey report contains the individual profiles of the four fishing villages, and covers such variables as household characteristics, fishing activities, awareness and attitude toward government assistance, organizational participation and fishermen’s needs, aspirations and perceptions. A final section integrating the individual profile has similarly been prepared.
The results of this initial research project will be presented in a multi-sectoral conference to be held in May at the new PSSC Center in Quezon City, along with the two other PSSC initiated research consortia will similarly be presenting their respective poverty researches.
Tentative plans for the second EMARC research project consist of secondary research utilizing the existing data set on fishing villages. These will hopefully result in a series of research papers developed from the initial study. Research participants may include both the members of the Research Committee and the grantees of the ongoing EMARC faculty development program.

Training Program

Training workshops and meetings were likewise held during the year relative to the research project on fishing villages. These ranged from developing an integrated research design for the four study-sites, a structured household interview schedule, requirements for computer-processing, data-analysis, interpretation, and report writing. Attended by the members of the EMARC research team during the various phases of the study, the workshops were held in Davao City, Digos (Davao del Sur), Cotabato City, Butuan City and in UP Los Banos. The PSSC-EMARC consultants (Dr. Ricardo Abad, Dr. Vicente Pangueo, and Dr. Henry Magalit) provided the necessary technical assistance in directing specific phases of the study. As an expressed need by the research team, a workshop on “Index-Construction” by mid-1983 has been proposed by Dr. Ricardo Abad.

Faculty Development Program

The consortium has likewise embarked on a faculty development program as its own contribution to the national goals of human resources development which is relevant and specific to Mindanao. It consists of a two-year series of graduate courses offered for the degree “Master of Arts in Applied Social Research” (MASOR) with a final year for research practice in the home-institutions as the thesis requirement.
The initial courses offered consisted of “Theory Construction and A Review of Classical Sociological Theories” (MASOR 101) and “Communications and Motivations” (MASOR 102). Two faculty members from UP Los Banos (Dr. Jaime Valera and Dr. Pura Depositario) handled the courses during the initial two-week training period. Thirteen graduate students are currently participating in the EMARC_MASOR program, nine of whom are EMARC faculty-grantees. Appendix B contains the lists of participants. The second two week training period was scheduled for April 4-16, 1983 in Davao City. Two UPLB faculty (Dr. Leonardo Chua and Dr. Jaime Valera) were similarly  invited to handle the next two-courses “Social And Cultural Change” (MASOR 103) and “Sociology of Development” (MASOR 104), respectively. The third set of EMARC-MASOR courses involving “Social Research Design” (MASOR 105) and “Fundamental Statistics” (MASOR 106), was held in May. These were handled by Dr. Henry Magalit and Dr. Leonardo Chua of UP Los Banos. It is hoped that faculty resources of other academic institutions be harnessed  for the other EMARC-MASOR courses in the interest of providing the trainees a wide exposure in social science research expertise within the context of Philippine society.

Financial Status

To date, PSSC has released the total amount of P284,400.00 to the consortium. Given the activities mentioned earlier, a total of P191,530.91 has been disbursed. A detailed financial statement will subsequently be prepared by the Finance Department of the Ateneo de Davao University.

Info

Source Journal	Tambara
Journal Volume	Tambara Vol. 1 No. 1
Authors	Teresita N. Angeles
Page Count	2
Place of Publication	Davao City
Original Publication Date	March 1, 1984
Tags	DAVAO CITY, Eastern Mindanao, Research, Tambara

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